Amazon is looking to be the latest competitor in the satellite internet space in India. The e-retail giant will be competing with Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Bharti Group-backed OneWeb in high-speed satellite broadband in the country, reported The Economic Times. The
latest entrant in the industry will be increasing the competition in the nascent field.
The company will be approaching the concerned governmental authorities
to discuss modalities, authorisations, permits, landing rights and satellite bandwidth leasing costs, The Economic Times
reported, quoting sources close to the matter.
“…talks with the DoS and Department of Telecommunications (DoT) will happen on the necessary regulatory approvals to bring Amazon’s high-speed broadband services to India via its Project Kuiper satellite constellation as part of the global launch,” mentioned the report quoting a source.
The Department of Space (DoS) is the government entity responsible for giving companies landing rights and permission for downlinking signals of foreign satellites into Indian territory.
India is rapidly emerging as a data hub with its data usage increasing fast even as last phase connectivity to remote areas still remains unavailable through traditional broadband and cellular connections. Low-Earth Orbit satellites can prove to be a more efficient way to reach such areas even though the cost of satellite-based internet remains high.
SpaceX’s broadband service Starlink is already
available for pre-order in the country at $99 (around Rs 7,200), which will provide a speed ranging between 50-150 Mbps. OneWeb, backed by the UK government and the Bharti Group, has recently launched 36 more services as it
races towards starting its services by 2022.
But Amazon’s project, named Kuiper after the Kuiper Belt at the outer edges of the Solar System, will not just be competing with satellite internet in India. With proposals like Reliance Jio Infocomm’s
plan to build the largest international submarine cable system, companies are eager to provide higher capacities and higher speeds to the people of the subcontinent.
"As LEO satellite technology rapidly gains global scale and bandwidth leasing costs head down, it would make strong business sense for Amazon to quickly make inroads into India’s emerging satellite broadband market to effectively compete with OneWeb and SpaceX," Rohan Dhamija, partner and head, India & Middle East at technology, media and telecom consultancy Analysys Mason told the ET.
