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On Tuesday, Bharti Chairman Sunil Mittal said that OneWeb will set up new ground units for its high-speed satcom services. Notably, the LEO operator will launch the services sometime next year.
OneWeb to Set Up Ground Stations in India
The news came at the investor call on Monday, when the news of Airtel raising Rs 21,000 crore made headlines. The telco plans to use the proceeds of the rights issue for 5G and its digital business.
Mittal added, "Airtel will be a partner of choice for OneWeb in India and its equity participation into the OneWeb India JV will be of the order of magnitude of $5-7 million only," Mittal said. He also clarified that Airtel does not have plans to buy Bharti's stake in the satcom company.
However, Bharti's international arm, Bharti Global, will invest an additional $500 million in OneWeb. The latest move will take its total investment to $1 billion and its stake to 38.6% in the satcom player.
Co-owned by Bharti group and the UK government, OneWeb is readying to take on Elon Musk’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper venture in the relatively nascent fast broadband-from-space segment.
India a Major Market for OneWeb
OneWeb has made India as a major market, as it has been in talks with companies to reduce access terminal costs. These companies include Sasken Technologies, ISRO’s commercial arm, NewSpace India Ltd (NSIL) and a group of global tech companies. For context, Starlink's user terminal costs $99 for the user.
To further escalate the matters, the company has already applied for two permits to the DoT. These include a national long distance (NLD) and a GMPCS (global mobile personal communications by satellite services) licence. The company will use to deliver satcom services using its 650-odd satellites-strong LEO constellation.
The telecom department has issued a letter of intent to the satcom player; the company is waiting for the GMPCS.
India remains one of the most promising satellite broadband market, with a $1 billion annual revenue opportunity. Three-fourths of the country still does not have access to broadband or basic connectivity. As such, the government and analysts have been touting satcom as a long-term solution for the problem.