Bharti-backed OneWeb set for first mover advantage in satellite broadband services in India

Bharti Group-backed OneWeb is set to get the first mover advantage in the satellite broadband market in India when it begins services by mid-next year, potentially piping Elon Musk’s Starlink and Reliance Jio that have taken licenses to launch their own services in the country.

“We expect that by the middle of next year, services should begin in India… this will provide connectivity in geographies or terrain that has no mobile connectivity,” Sunil Mittal, chairman of OneWeb where Bharti Global - the overseas arm of Bharti Enterprises – has the largest shareholding.

The services have been delayed owing to the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine which led to Oneweb’s launch from Russia to be scuttled. The geopolitical tensions have cost the company $350 million, Mittal said, and pushed back the deadline to launch the service in India by more than a year. However, they’re still ahead of SpaceX’s Starlink services, Amazon’s Project Kuiper which is estimated to have a global timeline of 2026-27, Tata’s Nelco together with Canada’s Telesat and rival Reliance Jio’s Jio Satellite Communications that plans to launch mobile personal communication services.

“OneWeb will be the first one to launch satellite broadband services in India,” said Anil Prakash, director general of Satcom Industry Association India. He added that India’s large market had created the need for satellite communications which provided an opportunity to multiple satellite operators to launch these services.

OneWeb will primarily focus on providing satellite services for enterprise uses across industries, wifi on airlines, emergency services and defence or military applications. The company aims to introduce wi-fi for airlines next year as well and is in talks for installing terminal contracted from Panasonic.

However, wi-fi services could be offered at the ground level, for instance in villages through satellite enabled terminals, directly to consumers that could be priced at the level of 4G tariffs, Sunil Mittal said.

“If a terminal can be dropped in a village to provide, say, community Wi Fi or share the services, it (tariffs) could be at par with 4G services,” he added.

But launch of the services will be contingent on landing stations, which Oneweb has secured in two locations in India, and importantly, on the spectrum allocation dedicated for satellite broadband, which is yet to be decided by the government.

“The capacity availability for India through the satellites will be driven by the contours of the spectrum allocation, Spacecom policy and foreign investment guidelines. Satellite broadband requires massive investment, so stakeholders would be keenly looking forward to policy clarity and certainty,” SIA-India’s Prakash said.

Mittal said that he was awaiting the Spacecom policy, but argued that India should allocate the spectrum administratively, but if it does take the auction route it should be a model that works for the industry. He argued that since the business case for satellite services is small, pegging the spectrum on high prices - like in recent 5G spectrum auction - will be unviable for the industry.

“We’re not competing with mobile services. If allocation of administrative spectrum has to happen, then it has to be designed in a way which works otherwise will potentially miss out on satellite services,” Mittal said.

The government has earmarked about 1000 Mhz for satellite services, but is yet to reveal how it plans to allocate these airwaves.

OneWeb launched 36 satellites into orbit from Indian Space Research Organisation’s centre in Sriharikota just post-midnight on Sunday, which also India’s first dedicated commercial satellite launch on its heaviest rocket LVM3-M2. The launch has put India in league with nations like the US, Russia, France and China that have been major players in the space industry.

The launch has put ISRO’s commercial arm NewSpace India Limited or NSIL on the map for future commercial launches of satellites which have been done by SpaceX, Eutelsat and other global players.

“We actually have a wonderful opportunity given some of the geopolitical situation that we are witnessing, which has taken away some of the major providers of the services. This is an opportunity India must seize and emerge as a major player,” Mittal said.

ISRO’s commercial arm will conduct the second of the two launches, part of the Rs 1000 crore order by OneWeb, in January 2023. It will use SpaceX’s facility in the US to do three other satellite launches over the next few months till March end, which will add up to about 170 satellites that till be put in space to complete the installations.

Mittal said that Oneweb plans to engage further with ISRO on a second generation of rockets that can be used for future launches.

“We have demonstrated that India is open to commercial launches for various payloads. Today these are communication satellites, tomorrow they could be military payloads from strategic partners and classified payloads from the government,” Mittal added.

Oneweb and French satellite operator Eutelsat Communications will complete their merger by April 2023, following which OneWeb will be a 100% subsidiary of Eutelsat, having Bharti Global as the largest shareholder and other including SoftBank, Hanwha and the British government. The combined entity will offer connectivity through LEOs from Oneweb and geo stationary orbit or GEO satellites from Eutelsat.

With a total investment of $5.5 billion since 2014 in Oneweb, the company has a capacity of 1.1 Tbps which Mittal said had been largely contracted.