Eutelsat OneWeb, a global satellite communications (satcom) service provider, is awaiting government approval to launch commercial services in India. The company has already completed the necessary tests and has all the necessary regulatory licenses to provide satcom services. Eutelsat OneWeb is open to partner with any telecom operator and operate in areas where mobile network connectivity has not yet arrived.
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Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman, Bharti Enterprises, said that OneWeb's two satellite network portals (SNPs) are ready. One is in the north and the other in the south. The test has been completed in the Himalayas and deserts to showcase the capabilities of satellite networking, a PTI report said. The army, navy and government agencies will benefit immensely from this.
“The terminals are in India, we are just waiting… we cannot do anything because we cannot launch it, except our test case, which has been approved… we cannot use it commercially until we get the approvals,” Mittal was quoted as saying in the report.
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The wait for the government approval is still on for Eutelsat OneWeb. The company has also told the government that it can launch services with a temporary permission and later all the policies and rules that will govern the sector can be followed. There is no clarity at the moment on when the satcom services will go live in the country. It will be interesting to see how Jio and Bharti compete in this segment as both companies primarily focus on B2B customers.
Commercial satellite services for mobile customers will be too expensive, as we have seen in the case of Starlink selling pre-bookable connections in India.
