According to the Indian government, the total number of broadband connections in the country at the end of 2024 stood at 944.96 million (cellular 903.78 million, wireline 41.19 million) and the market is growing.
It is commonplace for millions of Indian consumers to own multiple handsets (one for work, for family, etc). But the market for a slew of would-be satellite operators is coming to a head.
Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Bharti’s Eutelsat/OneWeb, Reliance Jio (with help from SES) are the top four players. Most have already been granted various licenses in order to start services. There’s also BSNL (Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd) which is an Indian central public sector undertaking, under the ownership of Department of Telecommunications. The Apple-backed Globalstar has also applied for licenses.
Eutelsat in its 1st September statement said OneWeb India Communications- the Indian entity of Eutelsat- will partner with Tata Group’s Nelco Ltd to deliver secure, low-latency LEO connectivity for customers on land, at sea, and in the air.
Somewhat confusingly, Bharti Airtel has also signed an agreement with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to market Starlink satellite internet services in India. The Tata partnership says it envisions offering Starlink hardware via Airtel’s retail outlets, as well as delivering services to enterprises, communities, schools, and healthcare centres – especially in rural and remote areas.
Local sources say that by adding Starlink to its existing partnership with Eutelsat OneWeb, Bharti Airtel aims to broaden its nationwide satellite connectivity portfolio, helping bridge the digital divide across India, the company. A Bharti Airtel official remarked that the Indian market is vast, offering ample space for both Starlink and OneWeb to grow.
The Times of India reported on September 7th that Elon Musk-owned Starlink has begun groundwork to set up its terrestrial infrastructure in India, holding advanced talks with data centre operators, internet exchange providers, fibre players and telecom majors, as the satellite broadband firm prepares to launch services in this potentially high-growth market.
Starlink already has secured the necessary clearances from Indian rule-makers been allotted its trial bandwidth. It has identified 17 locations across India for its Teleport ground stations which will connect with its overhead satellites. Starlink has secured temporary spectrum approval from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), enabling it to begin trial runs of its broadband services. Starlink has formally applied for import licenses to bring its equipment into India.
With this approval, Starlink can set up ground facilities and undergo mandatory security checks. The clearance also allows the company to operate its Gen1 satellite constellation in India, with the licence remaining valid until July 7th 2030.
Starlink has yet to confirm an exact rollout date, but is anticipated to launch in the coming months, with speculation pointing to a possible debut before the close of 2025. The move is expected to pave the way for a new era of satellite-powered connectivity in India, expanding internet access to hard-to-reach and border regions that currently lack reliable coverage.
SES has said it expects its service with Reliance Jio to start before the end of the year. “We have been ready with our ground infrastructure and everything else for the last two years,” said Harsh Verma, SES’s VP/sales for the Asia-Pacific region, during a press briefing in July. “We are already doing proof of concept demos, but commercial traffic is not yet permitted. In my opinion, we are just a few months away; it should happen within this year.”
“By the end of 2026, we will have three additional satellites in orbit, enabling us to deliver three times the capacity we provide today with Reliance Jio,” said Verma. “That would mean more throughput and would mean that we will scale the gateway infrastructure from what we have today to multiple sites in the future.” SES has already identified the location of its second gateway infrastructure in India.
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