Reliance eyes billions in LEO satellites to build India's answer to Starlink

Reliance Industries isconsidering a big-bang entry intothe satellite communications space,involving a potential investment ofbillions of dollars, pitting the Mukesh Ambani-run conglomerateagainst Elon Musk-owned Starlink,Amazon Leo and others, people aware of the details told ET.

“The company wants to be one of the biggestplayers in the satellite space, particularly in the low earth orbit (LEO)segment, which has immense potential,” said a person aware of details.The satellite arm will be housed inJio Platforms (JPL), which runsRIL’s telecom and digital businesses.

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Six teams have been formed to workon different aspects of the project,such as satellites, launches, payloads and user terminals, said the people cited.

The move is of a piece withthe government’s aspiration for anIndian presence in the satcom business, particularly in LEOs, as dependence on overseas entities can havesecurity implications, given the keyrole it’s playing in conflicts.

Ambani spearheading project

China has filed for the placementof 200,000 satellites across multiple LEO constellations at the International TelecommunicationUnion (ITU). Several other countries are also investing in the space segment, particularly LEOs, ina bid to safeguard their interests.“Work has been (taking place)on a war footing for the past couple of months with meetings happening with different satellitetechnology firms that can help insetting up the constellation,” saida second person.

RIL has also started engagingwith the department of telecommunications (DoT) to facilitate filing of orbital slots at ITU. The latter allocates orbital slots and radio frequencies for satellites.While Mukesh Ambani is spearheading the project, other top executives are playing key roles, said the people cited.


They includeRIL president PK Bhatnagar, JPLchief executive Mathew Oommen and JPL senior vice president Aayush Bhatnagar.RIL didn’t respond to queries.

“Options to have inorganicgrowth, like acquiring any satellite entity, which has orbital slotsand infrastructure ready, are alsobeing considered,” said a thirdperson.The person said all options arebeing examined as Jio will have toplay catchup in the space, currently dominated by Starlink,with Amazon Leo emerging as acontender.

Other rivals includeEutelsat OneWeb, AST SpaceMobile and Sateliot. The Sunil Mittal-led Bharti Group is the secondlargest shareholder in Eutelsat,which is majority owned by theFrench government. Reliance Jiohas a partnership with mediumearth orbit satellite firm SES.Talks are currently exploratoryin nature and no timelines on alaunch or the investments entailed have been finalised.

“Clarity will emerge in the coming months when all the options are being examined,” saidthe first person cited. “The company may want to have LEO satellites in place in two to four years,either by organic or inorganicmeans.”

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The government and space regulator Indian National SpacePromotion and AuthorisationCentre (IN-SPACe) are said to have discussed the feasibility of developing a domestic non-geostationary orbit satellite constellation during a January meeting.

Having its own constellation willprovide India with digital sovereignty, security and data privacy,while also helping to secure critical infrastructure and taking care of surveillance needs.