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This would make the US e-commerce firm the latest entrant in India’s nascent but fast-growing satellite communications (satcom) market. Amazon would be pitted against the likes of Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Bharti-backed Oneweb and Reliance Industries' Jio Satellite in India which has issued a new space policy earlier this year aimed at spurring private investments in the sector.
The Jeff Bezos-led company is also expected to apply to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) licence.
A query sent to Amazon regarding its application remained unanswered at the time of going to press.
While Oneweb and Jio Satellite have secured a GMPCS license, Starlink’s application is expected to be taken up this week by an inter-ministerial panel.
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 permits foreign entities to set up infrastructure and offer satellite services. These companies, however, need to seek approval from IN-SPACe. The space policy has empowered IN-SPACe—an autonomous central regulatory body—to act as the sole single-window agency to authorise the gamut of space activities by both government and private satcom firms.
Amazon has been in regular talks with the Indian government on the satcom sector. It took part in the consultation process of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on finalising the allocation methodology for satellite spectrum.
According to Amazon’s website, the company plans to offer a range of services to customers with broadband speeds ranging from 100 megabits per second (Mbps) to 1 gigabit per second (Gbps), through its broadband-from-space services. The new service is expected to go onstream by the end of next year.
“Amazon is looking to start offering services in India at the same time of the global launch,” said an industry official familiar with the matter.
Last week, two prototype satellites from Amazon’s Project Kuiper, were launched into space. Project Kuiper plans to have an initial constellation of 3,236 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites and start offering services by the end of 2024.
Global satcom players have been eyeing the nascent satellite broadband services market opportunity in India. Consulting firm EY estimates India’s space economy to grow to $13 billion by 2025 from an annual revenue opportunity of around $1 billion currently.
The new space policy though, was silent on new foreign direct investment (FDI) rules for private LEO/MEO operators. But ET reported on September 25 that India is set to liberalise the FDI policy for the space sector by allowing up to 74% overseas ownership through the automatic route and up to 100% through the government route to attract top dollars from marquee global investors in satellite communications.
Liberalised FDI limits are on the cards so that companies based in India can access the latest global technologies in a host of space sector activities, including satellite manufacturing, satellite communications/operations and local production of satellite components, user devices and ground segment systems such as earth stations. Foreign direct investment up to 49% may also be permitted in satellite launch vehicles and associated system operations.
The new FDI rules for the space sector will soon be notified by the Department for Promotion of Industry & Internal Trade (DPIIT), which is working closely with IN-SPACe, the communications ministry and the Department of Space (DoS).
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