Amazon confirms plans to roll out satcom broadband
Amazon has said it is looking forward to working with the Indian government and local partners to bring «affordable broadband» across the country in its first comments on entering India's nascent satcom market.
«Project Kuiper (Amazon's broadband-from-space venture) will bring fast, affordable broadband to unserved and underserved communities around the world, including rural and remote places in India,» an Amazon spokesperson told ET in an emailed statement. «This (the move into India) is a long-term initiative for Amazon, and we look forward to working with the Indian government and local partners to connect customers and communities across the country,» it said.
The Jeff Bezos-owned US tech giant's statement comes a day after ET reported in its October 10 edition that the US major has applied to the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (In-Space) for getting required approvals to provide broadband services in the country.
The company is soon expected to apply to the telecommunications department (DoT) for a global mobile personal communication by satellite services (GMPCS) licence.
Its likely rivals in India's nascent but high-potential satcom market include Elon Musk's Starlink, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, and Reliance Industries' Jio Satellite.
OneWeb and Jio Satellite have already received GMPCS permit while Starlink's application is under process.
An inter-ministerial meet on Tuesday took note of Starlink's replies regarding security-related queries, official sources said.
