After Airtel, Jio lays out red carpet for Starlink
Starlink has partnered with Jio Platforms (JPL) to bring high-speed satellite internet services to customers in India, a day after a similar pact with Bharti Airtel.
The tie-ups underscore a surprise turnaround in the stance of India's top two telecom operators, led by billionaires Mukesh Ambani and Sunil Mittal, which had been at odds with the world's leading low-earth orbit satellite constellation operator over spectrum allocation and pricing for the domestic market.
Market watchers termed the deals as a win-win for all parties. While Starlink gets a foothold in the world's second-largest telecom market without paying top dollars to buy spectrum in an auction, both telcos get access to more cutting-edge technology while avoiding a bloody battle with a moneyed US giant. Indian consumers will be able to experience the latest technology at potentially affordable rates.
The bonhomie comes after an acrimonious spat that pitted Starlink against Jio and Airtel at a meeting in November organised by Trai, the telecom regulator, to discuss satellite spectrum pricing mechanism and other modalities. Tellingly, the distribution pacts were agreed within weeks of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's meeting in Washington with Musk, one of US President Donald Trump's closest advisers and executor-in-chief of the administration's cost-cutting strategy. Musk and Modi discussed space, mobile telephony and technology.
The Modi government has consistently sided with Starlink and Amazon's stance of not requiring an auction for satcom