As more and more companies launch satellite internet services in India, the broadband market is heating up.
Companies Vying For Satellite Internet Space
These include Elon Musk-backed Starlink, Bharti Airtel-backed OneWeb, Amazon-backed Project Kuiper, and British start-up Methera Global Communications.
HughesNet, Iridium, Eutelsat, Viasat, and O3b Networks are other players.
Starlink
The project aims to provide high-speed and low-latency internet through satellites deployed on Falcon rockets.
Customers can reserve their place for $ 99 or Rs 7300, which includes a satellite dish, a tripod, and a Wi-Fi router.
It has recorded speeds of about 80 Mbps (promised speeds up to 300 Mbps), which easily exceeds the average speed of India’s 4G or fiber broadband services.
Tata Initiative
Tata Group is setting its sights on the Indian satellite internet market in partnership with Telesat.
Tata Group subsidiary Nelco partnered with Telesat in September 2020 to form the partnership.
It will offer enterprise broadband services based on Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
As early as 2024, India could have light-speed satellite services.
OneWeb
OneWeb, a satellite internet company, will receive $500 million from the Bharti Group. Bharti Group (BG) will become the largest shareholder with this investment.
The British government, Eutelsat, and SoftBank each own 19.3%.
OneWeb Launches Another Batch Of Satellites
Arianespace successfully launched 34 satellites for OneWeb from the Baikonur cosmodrome in Kazakhstan on Aug 21.
OneWeb now has 288 satellites in orbit. A fleet of 648 LEO satellites would provide high-speed, low-latency global connectivity.
Global Demand
The company remains on track to launch globally in 2022. Its connectivity services are also in high demand in remote regions.
The demand comes from customers, telecommunications providers, ISPs, and governments across the globe.
Local Partnerships And Cost Cutting
For its entry into India, OneWeb is reportedly in talks with Sasken Technologies, ISRO’s commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL), and other global technology companies.
This partnership could sharply cut down user access terminal costs before launching fast satellite broadband services in India by May 2022.