Jio announces deal to bring Starlink to India just hours after similar Airtel partnership

India’s Assistant Reliance Industries Assistant Agency and the country’s largest telecom operator Geo Platforms on Wednesday announced the partnership with Elon Mask’s SpaceX to provide Sterverink’s satellite broadband internet service to its customers in India.

Under the agreement, which will be subject to regulatory approval, GO and SpaceX will search using Sterlink to increase offers, and GO will sell the starlink equipment through its retail outlets and online storefronts, Telco has said in a press statement.

GO Starlink will help establish a system to support customer service installation and activation “for the equipment,” said it.

Earlier Wednesday, Airtel, India’s second largest telco, Declare similar partnership To offer Sterlink through its channels with SpaceX. Airtel partnership is also subject to the regulatory approval of SpaceX in the country, which is in process with the in-space and telecommunications department.

As part of the joint declaration, GO says it is planned to provide SpaceX Internet services to enterprise customers nationwide through its channels. Further, Geo and SpaceX are ready to evaluate “other complementary areas of cooperation” to use their infrastructure in the world’s most populous countries.

“By integrating Starlink with the Broadband Ecosystem of Geo, we are increasing the reliability and accessibility of highspeed broadband in our AI-driven era, empowering communities and traders across the country,” Reliance Geo, Reliance Jio, said in a prepared statement.

This is not the first attempt to enter India with more than 950 million customers. The musk company tried to explore before the market but Prepaids had to pay back In 2022, the Government of India called for “booking/rendering of satellite internet service” before the Government of India in 2022 is among its starlink equipment.

The latest steps have arrived a few weeks after visiting Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi Kasturi and President Donald Trump Signing an agreement A Global Subsia is cable for the project.

In addition to the SpaceX partnership, Geo is working on its own satellite-based broadband through its starlink-contradictory services, GeosspacefiberAs a result of a joint venture with SES. Telco Tested That service in 2023 and four districts and Its space has received approval Last year. Likewise, Airtel has been Explore the satellite internet through Oneweb For a while.

It would be interesting to see how these other satellite broadband businesses supported in India when it happened in India. Two telcoo opposed the Indian government’s move by late last year to enter the marketlink market Administrative way Instead of the auction process, which is usually allotted to the spectrum.

Now, at least, everyone is present on the same page. “We are expecting approval from the Government of India to supply more people, agencies and businesses,” we are expected to work with Geo and access to Sterlink’s highspeed internet services, “said Shotwell, president and chief operating officer of SpaceX, as part of the announcement.