Jio announces an agreement to bring Starlink to India a few hours after a similar Airtel partnership
JIO Platforms, the subsidiary of Conglomerate Reliance Industries and the largest telecommunications operator in the country, Elon Musk from Elon Musk announced on Wednesday to offer large -band satellite internet services to its customers in India.
Under the agreement, which is subject to regulatory approvals, JIO and SpaceX will explore using Starlink to extend Telco’s offers, while Jio will sell Starlink equipment via its points of sale and online stores, said Telco in a press release.
Jio will also help “establish a mechanism to support the installation and activation of customer service” for Starlink equipment, he said.
Earlier Wednesday, Airtel, the second largest telecommunications in India, announced a similar partnership With SpaceX to offer Starlink through its channels. The Airtel partnership is also subject to SpaceX regulatory approvals in the country, which are underway with the space and the telecommunications department.
As part of the joint announcement, JIO said that it planned to offer SpaceX Internet services to business customers nationally via its channels. In addition, Jio and SpaceX are ready to assess “other complementary areas of cooperation” to use their infrastructure in the most populous nation in the world.
“By integrating Starlink into the wide -band ecosystem of JIO, we expand our scope and improve the reliability and accessibility of high speed at high speed in this AI -focused time, empowering communities and businesses across the country,” said Mathew Omen, group CEO, JIO reliance, in a prepared press release.
This is not the first SpaceX effort to enter India, with more than 950 million subscribers. Musk’s company has tried to explore the market earlier but had to reimburse pre -orders From its starlink equipment in 2022 after the Indian government called it to “reserve / rendering the satellite internet service” before obtaining the necessary approvals.
The last measures come just a few weeks after the Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi went to the United States, meeting Musk and President Donald Trump and Sign an agreement For a global submarine cable project.
Alongside the SpaceX Partnership, Jio worked on his own broad band by satellite via his Rival Starlink service, Jiospaceresulting from a joint venture with its. Telecommunications too tested this service in four districts in 2023 and received its approval in space Last year. Likewise, Airtel was Explore internet satellite via oneweb For a while.
It will be interesting to see how Jio and Airtel support the deployment of Starlink when this happens in India, given these other large satellite bands. The two telecommunications operators also opposed the moving of the Indian government at the end of last year to facilitate the entry of Starlink on the market via administrative means Instead of crossing an auction process, which is generally how the spectrum is allocated.
For the moment, at least, everyone seems to be on the same wavelength. “We are impatient to work with JIO and receive authorization from the government of India to provide more people, organizations and businesses with access to the Highpeed Internet services in Starlink,” said Gwynne Shotwell, president and head of the SpaceX operation, as part of the announcement.
