Amazon Joins India’s Satcom Race With Project Kuiper, Seeks Regulatory Approval

Ecommerce behemoth Amazon is the latest entrant to India’s satcom industry, as the company seeks approval from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).

Amazon’s satcom arm – Project Kuiper – is looking to silently apply for the global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) license with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), ET said in a report.

According to Amazon’s website, the company plans to offer a range of services to customers with broadband speeds ranging from 100 Mbps to 1 Gbps, through its broadband-from-space services. The new service is expected to go onstream by the end of next year.

Amazon and Project Kuiper are planning to launch satcom servies in India alongside their global launch, whenever that happens.

Amazon would be taking on likes of Bharti Airtel-backed OneWeb, Elon Musk’s Starlink and Reliance’s Jio Satellite in the satcom space. While OneWeb and Jio Satellite have already secured their GMPCS licences, Starlink’s application is set to be taken up by an inter-ministerial panel later this week, the ET report added.

India’s satcom industry is still in its nascent stages, yet major global players in the space are looking at what could only be described as a mega opportunity.

India’s Space Policy 2023 allowed private low-earth orbit (LEO) and medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation operators to launch fast broadband from space services in the country.

The new policy also allows foreign entities to set up infrastructure and offer satellite services in India. These companies, however, need to seek approval from IN-SPACe. The space policy has empowered IN-SPACe to act as the sole single-window agency to authorise the gamut of space activities by both government and private satcom firms.

For its part, Amazon has been in talks with the Indian government on the satcom sector regularly. The ecommerce giant also took part in the consultation process of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on finalising the allocation methodology for satellite spectrum, which has been a touchy subject for all players involved.