Starlink & Amazon Strike First Satellite Broadband Deals in India Ahead of Spectrum Showdown

According to a media report, US satellite companies Starlink and Amazon Kuiper have inked their first commercial agreements with VSAT providers in India.

This step marks a significant step towards the establishment of government and business satellite broadband services before satellite spectrum is formally allotted.

Through these collaborations, the low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellite broadband companies hope to make money from their products in the business-to-business (B2B) and business-to-government (B2G) markets. At the same time, they are getting ready to cater to the retail consumer market, whose price structures are still being decided.

According to the media source, Amazon and Starlink have been attempting to establish collaborations in India. With an emphasis on the B2B and B2G markets, they have already found a few VSAT partners in India and are actively seeking more. They aim to make the best use of their India potential. Hughes Communications, Nelco, and Inmarsat are a few of the major VSAT providers in India.

Eutelsat OneWeb will use a sell-through strategy through Indian partners, and both Starlink and Amazon Kuiper want to compete directly with it in both the enterprise and retail sectors.

Hybrid Model go to Market for India

According to a media report, Kuiper and Starlink are pursuing a hybrid go-to-market strategy in India. In addition to providing services directly, they are forming alliances to market through other partners.

For example, Starlink has previously established a sell-through model collaboration with Reliance Jio and Airtel. According to the report, Starlink would soon start providing connections to customers directly through its website.

In the same way, Kuiper will not depend on a single master distributor or handle everything on their own. This strategy was chosen because India is a adverse and new market.

Bank branches, ATMs, remote petrol stations, warehouses, retail chains, cellular backhaul, maritime and in-flight connectivity, and defence infrastructure are among the common applications for VSAT service providers, all of which stand to gain from higher-bandwidth LEO-based upgrades.

Starlink Expanding its Nexus

In terms of regulatory advancement, these changes put Starlink on par with Jio Satellite and Eutelsat OneWeb. Last month, it was granted a Global Mobile Personal Communications by Satellite (GMPCS) licence, making it the third business in India permitted to provide commercial satcom services.

Although Starlink currently has a GMPCS permit, it has not yet received its IN-SPACe approval. According to a media report, Starlink has received a draft agreement from the Indian space regulator that is anticipated to be signed shortly.

Additionally, Starlink will receive trial spectrum from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in exchange for completing security compliance demonstrations.

Jyotiraditya Scindia, the minister of communications, met with senior executives from SpaceX, the parent firm of Starlink, a few days ago to explore joint venture possibilities for using satellite technology to fuel India's digital infrastructure.

Amazon Kuiper is now pending IN-SPACe and GMPCS certifications. The business has finished all necessary operational and security audits, and the next meeting of the interministerial standing committee is probably when its application will be examined.