Starlink, Project Kuiper requests for landing rights under process: IN-SPACe chairman

The Indian National Space Promotion & Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) is processing the applications of Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon-owned Project Kuiper seeking landing rights clearances for the satellite communication companies, said the regulator’s chairman, Pawan Goenka.

Both companies have yet to get permits to provide satcom services in India — their applications are pending before the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) — but Goenka said this would not delay the grant of landing rights to them by the space sector regulator.

“Starlink and Amazon Kuiper’s applications seeking IN-SPACe authorisation for provisioning of their constellation capacity (in India) are under process,” Goenka told ET. “The authorisation is an independent approval and does not hinge on Starlink and Amazon-Kuiper getting prior GMPCS licences and other approvals from the DoT.”

The GMPCS (global mobile personal communications by satellite services) licence from the telecom department — which Starlink and Project Kuiper are still awaiting — is a key requirement for satcom companies to launch broadband-from-space services in India. Satcom companies also need spectrum, which the government has yet to allocate.

Landing rights authorisation from IN-SPACe is compulsory for companies to deploy their global low-earth orbit satellite constellation capacities in India.

Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb was the first satcoms player in India to receive IN-SPACe’s approval, which it got last November. Recently, Orbit Connect India, a 51:49 joint venture between Reliance Industries’ Jio Platforms and Luxembourg-based satcom company SES, also got the authorisation.

Global biggies such as Amazon-backed Kuiper and Starlink, which plan to enter India’s still nascent satcoms market with high growth potential, still require a bunch of statutory approvals, including the landing rights authorisation, GMPCS licence and market access clearance from DoT, as well as the central government’s clearance for setting up in-country earth stations.

Accordingly, Jio’s satcom JV and Bharti-backed Eutelsat OneWeb appear to have wrested a first-mover advantage in India’s satcom space.

Broadband from space services can be rolled out commercially in India only after the government allocates satellite spectrum to the companies via the administrative route.

A key challenge for Jyotiraditya Scindia, who took charge as India’s communications minister earlier this month, will be pushing through the notification of rules under the Telecommunications Act, 2023, which will define the modalities around spectrum pricing for administrative allocation of satellite airwaves. These rules will also outline the specific conditions for satellite spectrum usage.

Nearly 75% of rural India still doesn’t have fast broadband and many locations continue to lack cellular or fibre connectivity. As a result, satellite systems, which can be rolled out a lot faster than terrestrial telecom networks in rural and remote regions, are seen as a viable alternative to connect the unconnected.

IN-SPACe recently estimated India’s space economy to potentially touch $44 billion by 2033, accounting for about 8% of the global share, up from about 2% now.