Space Rivalry Between Reliance and Airtel, OneWeb Gets Approval To Launch Commercial Satellite

26 Nov, 2023 Author: Ayushee Joshi

After establishing two of the leading telecom companies worldwide, billionaire businessmen Sunil Mittal, whose Bharti Enterprises holds a majority stake in OneWeb, and Mukesh Ambani, who owns Jio Satellite are going to clash for providing broadband-from-space services. The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) has given the required regulatory approvals to Bharti-backed low earth orbit (LEO) satellite company OneWeb India to begin offering Eutelsat OneWeb’s commercial satellite broadband services in India.

India’s First IN-SPACe Approved Firm

Eutelsat OneWeb is a division of Eutelsat Group, a leader in satellite communications (satcom) that provides broadcasting and connectivity over the globe. In 2023, OneWeb and Eutelsat, both based in France, merged to form the Group. OneWeb is the first company in India to receive approval from IN-SPACe, which recently completed a merger with Eutelsat of France. Any organization seeking to provide satellite communications services in India needs to obtain spectrum from the Department of Transportation (DoT), approvals from IN-SPACe, and a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) licence. OneWeb has already been licensed, and IN-SPACe has now given its approval.