After Airtel, Ambani’s Jio partners with Musk’s SpaceX to offer Starlink services in India
A day after its rival Bharti Airtel, Jio Platforms also struck a deal with Starlink, the world’s largest low-earth-orbit (LEO) constellation operated by SpaceX and owned by Elon Musk, to provide Starlink’s high-speed broadband internet services in India, billionaire Mukesh Ambani’s company said on Wednesday.
In a surprise move that follows months of bickering over how Starlink should be granted spectrum rights, Ambani’s venture signed a partnership deal with US President Donald Trump’s right-hand-man, Musk within 24 hours of telecom tycoon Sunil Bharti Mittal’s Bharti Airtel partnering with SpaceX.
The development assumes significance as rivals Jio and Airtel had, over the past few months, come together to demand an auction for awarding spectrum for satellite services in India, fearing that an administrative allocation would give Musk airwaves at a price lower than what they had paid via auctions in the past.
This has also turned business rivals into partners in the SpaceX deal.
The deals come weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi met Musk in Washington to discuss issues including space, mobility, technology, and innovation. During the trip, Modi also met Trump, whose administration has increased tariffs against various countries, including India.
Ambani, chairman and managing director of Reliance Industries Ltd, was one of the select few invitees at Trump’s oath-taking ceremony.
In a statement, Jio Platforms—the company that holds telecom and digital properties of Reliance Industries Ltd—said, “This agreement is subject to SpaceX receiving its own authorisations to sell Starlink in India.”
According to the agreement, Jio will offer Starlink equipment in retail outlets and online stores and also support customer installation and activation of devices. Jio and SpaceX will also explore how they can boost each other’s offerings.
It reads, “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, including the most rural and remote regions of India”.
The agreement is to offer Starlink’s broadband internet services to Jio customers in India.
On Tuesday, Bharti Airtel had entered into an agreement with SpaceX to bring Starlink’s high-speed Internet service to India on a non-exclusive basis. While Airtel already partners with Eutelsat OneWeb, the world’s second-largest LEO constellation, Jio Platforms has a joint venture with SES, a leading global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Starlink can help Bharti and Jio provide connectivity to previously underserved areas, especially areas currently with limited to no coverage.
Regulatory nod awaited
To launch Starlink services in India, Starlink is awaiting regulatory approvals, which will be subject to meeting the prescribed security norms.
Besides, to offer satellite-based voice and data services in the country, such companies are required to secure a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licence and space regulator IN-SPACe’s approval, along with the allocation of spectrum from the Indian government.
However, Musk’s satellite venture has reportedly agreed to meet the India’s data localisation and security requirements, which had previously been a significant point of contention.
Earlier, Eutelsat OneWeb, in which Airtel is the single-largest shareholder, with a 21.2 per cent share, and Jio’s joint venture with SES have already secured GMPCS licenses and IN-SPACe approvals.
Starlink’s 6,000 satellites
Presently, Starlink operates over 6,000 LEO satellites, while Amazon’s Kuiper project plans to deploy 3,236 satellites, starting in early 2025.
In October 2024, India had sided with Musk on the issue of allocating airwaves, to be used for offering low latency internet services using satellite, at a pre-decided price through an administrative route.
Feared lower entry costs would chip away some of their subscriber base, both Jio, India’s largest wireless carrier, and Airtel, the second player in the world’s most populous nation where data usage is rapidly rising, have announced their deals within 12 hours of each other, underscoring Musk’s growing political and business clout in the current US administration. As the head of the nascent Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the world’s richest man has emerged as a dominant force in Trump’s second term.
