How Satcom Is Transforming India’s Connectivity Landscape :

India’s satellite communication (satcom) industry is in for a big change as OneWeb, Starlink, and other players wait for the TRAI recommendations and DoT spectrum allocation to start their operations. While OneWeb along with Jio’s satcom division has received all the requisite clearances, Starlink led by Elon Musk is also progressing after meeting various compliance norms set by Indian regulators.

An in-depth analysis on the impact of satcom on India’s telecommunications sector and its consumers.

Complementary Role of Satcom with Terrestrial Telecom Services

Fiber optics and mobile cell towers are increasingly used in urban and well-connected areas as much as possible. However, in remote areas such as mountains, deserts, oceans, and other hard-to-reach regions, these networks are almost non-existent. This gap is filled with Satellite communication (Satcom). For instance, satellite services provide crucial internet access to places where infrastructure fails to meet the basic requirements.

Satellite communications (Satcom) networks are frequently a lone reliable means of communication in natural disasters where infrastructure built on ground is rendered useless. Satcom can also be used to improve mobile communication by linking remote base stations to the central telecom network. Additionally, it facilitates IoT and M2M communication in remote industrial sites like oil rigs, mines, and farm lands.

Satcom’s Impact in India

This massive gap in connectivity offers an incentive for satellite communication on India’s unique geographical features. Rural India, which sustains more than 65% of the population, remains greatly underserved despite the robust telecom infrastructure in urban regions. However, Satcom has the potential to fill this gap by extending internet facilities to remote areas and enabling vital services like healthcare, education, and agriculture.

Satcom will play a pivotal role in fulfilling the motto of "BharatNet" and "Digital India" which aims to connect the entire country to the internet. In addition, satellite communication plays a critical role in the Indian defense forces for operations in remote and high-altitude bordering regions, and are also crucial in disaster management where natural calamities disrupt terrestrial networks.

The Backbone of Satcom: LEO, MEO, and GEO

LEO (Low Earth Orbit): LEO satellites deliver exceptional amounts of data and low latency while remaining under a 2000 km altitude. Because of these qualities, they are perfect for real-time communications, streaming, and high-speed internet. They serve the underserved regions the best and are essential for remote medical services, video calls, online gaming, and many more services that require limited latency. Operators such as Starlink from SpaceX, OneWeb, and Amazon Kuiper have excelled in providing LEO satellites that offer coverage to rural and remote areas.

MEO (Medium Earth Orbit): Defined as an orbit positioned between 2000 km and 35,785 km, MEO satellites are positioned to optimize latency and coverage while lowering costs. With superior latency, LEO is great for orbiting satellites only, while GEO covers large regions from space. For everything else in between, MEO is versatile enough to serve the needs. Intelsat, SES, and Viasat are some of the prominent providers of MEO oriented broadband services.

GEO (Geostationary Orbit): At 35,786 km, GEO satellites orbit the Earth in sync with its rotation and thus provide constant coverage to specific areas. These satellites are used predominantly for broadcasting, direct to home (DTH) television, and in some government services. Major operators of GEO satellites are Intelsat, SES, and Eutelsat.

Spectrum Bands for Satcom Services

Satcom operates in distinct frequency bands which have different uses within the industry.

C-band: It is the most common frequency for satellite TV and broadband.

Ku-band: It is the standard for satellite internet frequently used for DTH services.

Ka-band: It is used in advanced systems such as 5G backhaul or in high-definition Ka-band satellites since it has high data rate capacity.

Market Potential of Satellite Communication in India

The need for appropriate rural broadband services offers a great opportunity for growth in India's sattelite broadband market. Deloitte expects that the market will expand at a compound average growth rate of 36%, totaling $1.9 Billion by the year 2030. This growth will be further fueled by new international competitors such as SpaceX's Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper, as well as Indian players like Jio-SES and Eutelsat OneWeb.

In October 2024, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) satellite spectrum has been provisionally allocated to select companies, permitting them to utilize the spectrum for a period of 6 months. This has allowed Bharti Eutelsat OneWeb, and Reliance Jio's Orbit Connect India to validate their services. As per the notice published on 10th October, companies with a DoT license AND In-Space authorized certificate are eligible to this provisional spectrum. To date, OneWeb and the Jio-SES partnership were able to clinch the necessary approvals.

On the contrary, without the Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite Services (GMPCS) license and corresponding permission from IN-SPACe for their non-geostationary satellite orbit (NGSO) constellations, Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon's Project Kuiper are non-eligible for spectrum allocation at this time.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has not yet provided information on the pricing of the satellite communication spectrum, but this is expected soon. This is important because, as per IN-SPACe, India’s space economy is expected to grow fourfold from $5.5 billion in 2023, to reach approximately $44 billion by 2033, thus increasing its global share from 2% to about 8%.

In October 2024, India’s government decided to assign the satellite spectrum administratively, instead of via auctions, thus integrating with the global trend. This was informed by Mukesh Ambani’s reliance Jio and Elon Musk’s Starlink, where the former was in support of auctions while the latter favored the administrative allocation. Jyotiraditya Scindia, the Telecom Minister, noted that this is meant to give greater choice to consumers and “is part of the regime of international best practices”.

Eutelsat, after completing its merger with OneWeb in September 2024, launched 20 satellites in October 2024 aboard a SpaceX Falcon 9 rocket. This is part of efforts to improve their service to broadcasters, telecoms, and radio stations by expanding their low earth orbit constellation.

The competition is heating up in India’s satellite broadband industries as domestic market players such as Reliance Jio are already worried about the entrying of international corporations like Starlink and Amazon’s Kuiper. Reliance Jio has already asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to reconsider the potential repercussions these entrants can have on domestic providers before spectrum allocation policies are set.

The evolution of regulation and changing market forces suggest that the interplay between the international and domestic players is bound to impact the growth of broadband satellites in India and these entities compete and collaborate.