Eutelsat OneWeb gets a step closer to service provision in India

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Satellite Networks; 21 November 2023; 12047 views

OneWeb India says it has received the necessary authorisations from Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to launch Eutelsat OneWeb’s commercial satellite broadband services in India.

OneWeb India is the first organisation to be granted this authorisation.  Eutelsat OneWeb, the low earth orbit (LEO) operator, is part of the Eutelsat Group.

IN-SPACe is the agency of the government of India responsible for regulating space activities and granting authorisation for conducting space activities in the country. This authorisation means Eutelsat OneWeb can launch commercial connectivity services as soon as spectrum allocation has been granted by the government.

Eutelsat OneWeb says this news adds to its existing strong position in the Indian market, where OneWeb India already holds the necessary licences from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to provide broadband services using satellite connectivity.

The business has also obtained in-principle approval to establish and operate two gateways in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, which would secure the provision of high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity to customers across India once services are rolled out.

As India’s Economic Times news service points out, Amazon, Reliance Jio’s satcom unit and Elon Musk’s Starlink are also seeking approvals to launch their commercial broadband-from-space services in the country.

However, the Economic Times adds, while getting licenses and approvals will make a firm eligible to offer services, it still has to wait for spectrum – and the allocation mechanism has yet to be decided by the government.