Tata Will Launch Satellite Internet In India From This Date; Can It Fight Airtel, Elon Musk?

Despite India having the second-highest number of internet users in the world, there are still a large number of people especially in the rural areas are deprived of access to high-speed internet connectivity. 

What Is The Solution?

Satellite broadband connectivity can solve this issue. It can even cover the  

remote areas where telecom towers or fiber connections are hard to reach. 

Currently, there are three companies, who are already planning to provide satellite broadband internet in India.

But now, Tata group’s Nelco also joined the group.

Reportedly, the electronics company is planning to offer satellite broadband services in India through the Canadian firm Telesat’s Lightspeed brand. 

Now, both of these companies are in the final stages of the arrangement and planning to offer their services in India by 2024, as per the report. 

Affordable Satellite Broadband

Basically, these satellite broadband services aim to solve the issues which mobile internet or fiber broadband can’t but it’s also the most expensive of the three. 

As per the plan, Tata and Telesat will work on the business-to-business (B2B) model.

On the other hand, the satellite bandwidth will be offered to telcos so that they can provide to areas where mobile connectivity is weak. 

Apart from this, the two firms also plan to work on ways to make satellite broadband affordable in India.

Further, Telesat’s global plan for satellite broadband services, it will be done by an investment of almost $5 billion for a constellation of around 298 LEO satellites. 

Advantages Of LEO Satellite

Despite being expensive, the LEO satellites offer stronger signals and faster speeds compared to the traditional fixed-satellite networks as they orbit closer to the Earth. 

Currently, Telesat and Tata plan to take things further with their satellite broadband services is waiting for the new Spacecom policy that should offer better clarity for LEO satellite systems operators and setting up in-country satellite gateways.

As reported, Telesat is expected to join the Bharti Enterprises-backed OneWeb, Elon Musk’s Starlink and even Amazon for satellite internet in India.

Talking about OneWeb, it plans to offer its services in India by May 2022 making it the first company to do so. 

The other competitor, Musk’s Starlink is also aiming for a 2022 launch timeframe as the company has already accepted the pre-booking applications for its satellite internet services.