New Delhi, Mar 12: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s Jio Platforms has struck a deal with SpaceX, the aerospace company led by Elon Musk, to bring Starlink’s broadband internet services to India, a surprise move that follows months of bickering over how Musk’s venture should be granted spectrum rights.
The deal with Musk – considered the right-hand-man of US President Donald Trump – comes a day after telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel signed a similar partnership deal with SpaceX.
Over the past few months, rivals Jio and Airtel had come together to demand an auction for awarding spectrum for satellite services in India as they feared an administrative allocation would give Musk airwaves at a price lower than what they had paid via auctions in the past.
This agreement “is subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India”, Jio Platforms – the company that holds telecom and digital properties of Reliance Industries Ltd – said in a statement on Wednesday.
Jio will offer Starlink equipment in retail outlets and online stores and also support customer installation and activation on devices. Jio and SpaceX will also explore how they can boost each other’s offerings.
“Through this agreement, the parties will leverage Jio’s position as the world’s largest mobile operator in terms of data traffic and Starlink’s position as the world’s leading low earth orbit satellite constellation operator to deliver reliable broadband services across the country, including the most rural and remote regions of India,” the statement said.
Starlink is the world’s largest low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation operated by SpaceX.
On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel announced that it is entering into an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed Internet service to India on a non-exclusive basis. Bharti already partners with Eutelsat OneWeb, the second-largest LEO constellation.
Similarly, Jio Platforms has a joint venture with SES, a leading global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Jio Space Technology Limited, where Jio holds 51 per cent and SES 49 per cent, is to use multi-orbit space networks that are a combination of geostationary (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations capable of delivering multi-gigabit links and capacity to enterprises, mobile backhaul and retail customers across the length and breadth of India and neighbouring regions.
Starlink can help Bharti and Jio provide connectivity to previously underserved areas, especially areas currently with limited to no coverage.
The deals by Airtel and Jio come weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk in Washington to discuss issues, including space, mobility, technology and innovation. During the trip, the prime minister also met Trump, whose administration has upped the ratchet on tariffs against various countries, including India.
Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, was one of the select few invitees at the Trump’s oath-taking ceremony.
Starlink is awaiting regulatory approvals to launch Starlink services in India. Key to that is meeting the prescribed security norms. Also, such companies are required to secure a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence and space regulator IN-SPACe’s approval, along with the allocation of spectrum from the Indian government, to offer satellite-based voice and data services in the country.
The Musk-led satellite company has reportedly agreed to meet the Indian government’s data localisation and security requirements, which had previously been a significant point of contention.
Eutelsat OneWeb, in which Airtel is the single-largest shareholder with a 21.2 per cent share, and Jio’s joint venture with SES have already secured GMPCS licenses and IN-SPACe approvals.
Starlink, currently, operates over 6,000 LEO satellites, while Amazon’s Kuiper project plans to deploy 3,236 satellites, starting in early 2025.
In October last year, the government sided with Musk on the issue of allocating airwaves, to be used for offering low latency internet services using satellite, at a pre-decided price through an administrative route.
Both Jio, India’s largest wireless carrier, and Airtel, the No. 2 player in the world’s most populous nation, where data usage is rapidly rising, feared lower entry costs would chip away some of their subscriber base.
Their deals were announced within 12 hours of each underscoring Musk’s growing political and business clout in the current US administration. As the head of the nascent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the world’s richest man has emerged as a dominant force in Trump’s second term.
In the statement, Jio said its agreement with SpaceX is to offer Starlink’s broadband internet services to its customers in India.
“This agreement, which is subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India, enables Jio and SpaceX to explore how Starlink can extend Jio’s offerings and how Jio can complement SpaceX’s direct offerings to consumers and businesses,” it said.
“Jio will make Starlink solutions available through its retail outlets as well as through its online storefronts.”
Jio will not only offer Starlink equipment in its retail outlets but also establish a mechanism to support customer service installation and activation, it said.
“The agreement with SpaceX is part of Jio’s commitment to ensuring that reliable internet is fully accessible to all enterprises, small and medium businesses, and communities across India. Starlink complements JioAirFiber and JioFiber by extending high-speed internet to the most challenging of locations in a quick and affordable manner,” the statement said.
Jio and SpaceX are also evaluating other complementary areas of cooperation to leverage their respective infrastructure to further enhance India’s digital ecosystem.
“Ensuring that every Indian, no matter where they live, has access to affordable and high-speed broadband remains Jio’s top priority,” said Mathew Oommen, Group CEO, Reliance Jio.
“Our collaboration with SpaceX to bring Starlink to India strengthens our commitment and marks a transformative step toward seamless broadband connectivity for all. By integrating Starlink into Jio’s broadband ecosystem, we are expanding our reach and enhancing the reliability and accessibility of high-speed broadband in this AI-driven era, empowering communities and businesses across the country,” he added.
“We applaud Jio’s commitment to advancing India’s connectivity,” said Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX.
“We are looking forward to working with Jio and receiving authorisation from the Government of India to provide more people, organisations and businesses with access to Starlink’s high-speed internet services.”
Mittal, founder and chairman, Bharati Enterprises, in a statement on Wednesday, said he had, at the recently concluded Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, called on “the telecom and satellite players to work together, combine their strengths, and complete the mission of connecting the unconnected, covering the oceans and the skies as well as difficult-to-reach areas”.
“I am glad that this is being followed through with active announcements of partnerships between satellite companies and telecom operators,” he said.
Mittal said he had in 2017 appealed to operators to slash roaming charges, which were preventing customers from carrying their home networks and seeking local SIMs or Wi-Fi hotspots. The industry responded favourably; roaming rates went south, and the international home network switch-on rates shot up. Today, roaming tariffs across the globe are affordable.
“I have no doubt the satellite and the telecom industry globally will respond to my call to combine their strengths,” he said.
“For the telecom industry, the addition of satellite technology should be no different from bringing new technologies to its customers. Just like 4G, 5G, and 6G in the future, we will now have one more technology in our mix, i.e. SAT-G. Soon customers will be able to carry their mobiles to the remotest part of the world, with them in the skies and blue oceans. A new era of seamless global connectivity beckons.” (PTI)
