Airtel versus Jio: More shots fired in the satcom space battle
Airtel and Reliance Jio, found themselves on a new battlefront — the satellite communication or satcom, a futuristic technology that promises to revolutionise India's telecom sector.
Companies such as Reliance Jio’s JV with Luxembourg-based SES; Starlink; Amazon; Bharti-backed OneWeb; and the Tata-Telesat combine are working on creating a constellation of satellites to deliver ‘broadband-from-space’ services in India.
India's current telecom market has just two big players, Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, but satcom will attract more big players. Since satcom does not require installation of towers on earth, the entry barrier is not as formidable as it is in traditional terrestrial mobile telecom.
That's why the satcom sector is witnessing more intense rivalry even before the start of services. Airtel and Jio stand sharply divided on various issues related to satcom and have battled each other over complexities that surround satcom. The rivalry between the two biggies, with other satcom players also divided sharply, continues. A few days ago, they locked horns over the usage and price of satcom.
What exactly is satcom?
Satcom, as the name suggests, uses satellites for communication, especially internet connectivity, as against traditional terrestrial networks which are based on cables and towers. In satcom or satellite broadband, internet service providers send an internet signal to a satellite in space, which then comes back to the users and is captured by their satellite dish. The dish is connected to the
