Recently Jio Platforms Limited (JPL), a digital arm of Reliance Industry Limited (RIL), formed a joint venture (JV) with Luxembourg-based SES to provide affordable broadband services in India leveraging satellite technology. The JV will use multi-orbit space networks that are a combination of geostationary orbit (GEO) and medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellations. This joint venture is expected to give a tremendous boost to the adoption of satellite broadband technology in India that has been centered around buying capacity on geostationary satellites such as ISRO’s. Tata Sky, for instance, uses Insat 4A and G-Sat 10 to stream content to TVs across India. 

An interesting trend that has been observed by space experts over the past decade has been that there has been a decrease in launch costs, which have sparked interest in feasibly building LEO network constellations. Private efforts such as Starlink, Oneweb and O3B have manifested and global powers including China and the EU have begun projects to set up their own constellations. Now with Starlink pursuing regulatory approval in India, Bharti Global’s co-ownership of OneWeb, and Reliance partnering with SES on O3B, India’s 700 million unconnected users seem to be a prime target customer for this capability.

The JV of Jio Platforms with SES is significant because SES is the first company in the world that has successfully managed to not only operate but commercialise satellites in two orbits as well. The company established over 70 satellites in two different orbits geostationary Orbit (GEO) and medium Earth orbit (MEO) that have helped in providing video and data services to millions of customers across the world. Many satellites are operated by SES including European Astra TV satellites, the O3b data satellites and many others such as AMC, Ciel, NSS, Quetzsat, YahSat etc. SES was also the first international satellite company to provide satellite-based TV networks to millions of consumers across Europe. SES has now expanded its video and data business to other international markets such as the United States, India, Brazil, Mexico, Kenya, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia.

Over the years, SES has also partnered with companies such as Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, Honeywell, Hughes Network Systems as well as SpaceX for its Falcon 9 rocket. Its main competitors in this sector are Intelsat, Eutelsat, HI SPA SAT and Echo Star.

Space experts have observed that many Indian startups too have an eye on this market. “Astrome is building millimeter wave technology for backhaul solutions, and Astrogate Labs is exploring space based laser communication systems. It is likely that more companies will be interested in entering this segment and we may see many more Indian space tech startups in the near future. Low earth orbit constellations have the ability to provide coverage of nearly every spot of the earth that the satellites are passing over, but only for the duration of the pass. On the other hand, satellites in geostationary orbits provide continuous coverage from a fixed spot above a certain location. By combining these two advantages, companies can enable uninterrupted network coverage of the entire planet at all times,” Awais Ahmed-founder and CEO of Pixxel told THE WEEK. 

Ahmed says that the potential of this technology is immense as every unconnected part of the world, every small town and village can access high speed internet, which will spark a revolution in accessibility. “This alone will nearly bring in 3 billion new internet users, and will spark another wave of growth for the silicon valley. In addition it can enable entirely new ways to implement technology that companies can also pursue. Sensors in the wilderness, persistently connected robotics, autonomous vehicles and remote piloting become feasible through constellation connectivity. India stands a lot to gain from this, and the potential for us to become a major utility provider for the entire planet is a significant national advantage,” added Ahmed.

Space experts feel that the Jio Platforms and SES JV will benefit industries such as gaming, ad-tech, OTT, etc. As part of the JV an extensive gateway infrastructure will be developed in India to provide services within the country. 

“The JV will speed up the process of high speed Internet in smaller towns and cities of the country and will also help ramp up broadband penetration in areas where there is little or no LCO (local cable operators) support due to local broadband companies. However at the same time we will need to check on the pricing of this satellite service as it is generally much more expensive as compared to wired broadband due to the investment in infrastructure. Starlink, OneWeb and other foreign satellite operators have been stepping efforts to get a foothold in India as the country relaxes investment rules,” pointed out Girish Linganna, an aviation and space expert and Director, ADD Engineering Components India Limited. 

Recently as per reports U.S.based Hughes Network Systems had announced that it had created a joint venture with Bharti Airtel to sell satellite broadband in the country. Called Hughes Communications India Private Limited the JV includes a six-year deal to distribute UK-based OneWeb’s low Earth orbit (LEO) capacity in India. Bharti Airtel’s parent company Bharti Global is OneWeb’s largest investor, and Hughes has also invested in the LEO operator.

“SES primarily has satellites in the GEO and the MEO, while those of Elon Musk-led Starlink and Bharti Group’s OneWeb are in low earth orbit (LEO). GEO satellites are positioned at an altitude of 36,000 km, MEO and LEO (Low Earth Orbit) are lower at altitudes of 5,000-20,000km and 500-1,200 km. GEO satellites provide a larger coverage and therefore only three satellites can cover the whole earth. Hundreds of LEO satellites are needed to provide coverage to a larger area. LEO satellites are smaller and are cheaper to launch than GEOs or MEOs. But, LEO based satellites have risks, for example the recent Starlink incident. SpaceX’s satellites fell out of orbit as a result of the solar flare,” explained Linganna.