Reliance Jio-Starlink Partnership Eyes High Speed Internet in India, But Musk Need Govt Nod

Billionaire Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has announced a partnership with Elon Musk’s Starlink to provide satellite internet services in India. Under the agreement, the two companies are exploring complementary areas of cooperation to leverage each other's infrastructure. Jio has planned to offer its retail outlets to Musk’s Starlink and build a system to support customer service installation and activation. According to Jio’s statement on March 12, the partnership agreement will come into force after Starlink receives the government’s nod to sell its satellite internet services in the country. 

“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,” said the company in a statement.

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Prior to Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel forged a partnership with billionaire Musk’s Starlink. 

“This is the first agreement to be signed in India, which is subject to SpaceX receiving its authorisations to sell Starlink in India,” said Airtel and SpaceX in a joint statement. 

The development comes after a long disagreement between the two companies over spectrum allocation for satellite services in the country. Jio along with Bharti Airtel, earlier contested that the administrative allocation of spectrum at a pre-decided price by the government will not create a level playing field for the domestic telecom players. 

However, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia earlier said spectrum will be allocated according to the global standards set by the International Telecommunications Union (ITU) and ‘Schedule 1’ of the Telecom Act of 2023 that stated that satcom spectrum will be allocated administratively. 

“...and therefore, we are open to looking at the application of any entity that wants to invest in India at this point in time,” said Scindia. 

Indian telecom giants' partnership with Starlink will turn into reality after the latter gets a license from the government. Currently, both Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper’s application for a satellite spectrum license have not received the government’s approval.