Jio Platforms Eyes Space Communication with Sovereign LEO Constellation

Jio Platforms, the telecom and digital services unit of Reliance Industries, is looking to enter the space communication segment and is evaluating developing a sovereign Low-Earth orbit (LEO) constellation.

The company said it was also building ground station infrastructure to support its satellites and those of partner constellations.

"Jio connected India on the ground. Now, we must connect India from the skies. Jio is evaluating development of a sovereign low earth orbit satellite constellation for India," Reliance Jio chairman Aakash Ambani said while addressing shareholders at the company's 49th annual general meeting (AGM).

"We are also partnering with the leading global constellation providers by leasing satellite capacity, so that we can accelerate service availability while building our own long-term sovereign capability."

Ambani said the ground station infrastructure is being built in India.

"These ground stations will support our partner constellations as well as our own future satellites, creating an end-to-end satellite broadband ecosystem from space to ground," he said.

ET first reported in its May 6 edition about the company's entry in the LEO satcom space.

Last week, it was reported that Jio was planning to develop its own LEO constellation of 1,600-1,650 satellites at an altitude of about 650 kilometres in the next 2-3 years to offer broadband and direct-to-device services.

The company has submitted a proposal to this effect to space regulator Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe).

The entry of Jio in the LEO space segment pitches it directly in competition with players like Elon Musk-owned Starlink, Amazon Leo and Bharti Group-backed Eutelsat OneWeb.

Starlink and OneWeb have already secured a Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) authorisation, a key regulatory requirement for commercial satellite operations.

Jio's joint venture with Luxembourg based SES has also secured the GMPCS authorisation.

So far, none of the companies have got security approval.

At the AGM, Ambani said Reliance Intelligence, the group's new AI venture, is building sovereign AI infrastructure hosted in Jamnagar, Gujarat.