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

JIO Platforms, the subsidiary of the company, has announced in India and the country’s largest communications operator, a partnership with Elon Musk’s Spacex to provide online Internet services from Starlink to its customers in India.

According to the agreement, which is subject to organizational approvals, JIO and Spacex will be explored using Starlink to expand Telco offers, while JIO will sell Starlink equipment through retail outlets and online stores, the telecommunications company said in a press release.

She said that JIO will also help “create a mechanism to support and activate customer service installation” for Starlink equipment.

Earlier on Wednesday, Aartel, the second largest company in India, announced a similar partnership with Spacex to present Starlink through its channels. The Aartel Partnership is also underway to the regulatory approvals of SpaceX in the country, which is done with the communications circle.

As part of the joint advertisement, Gio said that she plans to provide Spacex Internet services to institutions worldwide through its channels. In addition, JIO and Spacex have been assigned to assess the “other complementary fields of cooperation” to use its infrastructure in the nation’s most populated world.

“By integrating Starlink into the ecosystem of the wide range of JIO, we expand our access, reliability and access to high -speed wide range in this AI’s age, and enable societies and companies across the country,” said Matthew Omin, the group’s CEO, Relains Geo, said in a prepared statement.

This is not the first Spacex effort to enter India, with more than 950 million subscribers. Musk tried to explore the market earlier, but it had to recover its Starlink equipment in 2022 after it called on the Indian government to “book/providing satellite internet service” before obtaining the necessary approvals.

The latest moves come a few weeks after the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, the United States, where he met Mousse and president Donald Trump and signed a deal for a global cable project under the sea.

Besides the Spacex Partnership, JIO runs on a wide -based satellite -based scale through the Starlink, Jiospacefiber competition, which is caused by a joint venture with SES. Telco also tested that service in four regions in 2023 and obtained approval in space last year. Likewise, AIRTEL was explored online via OneWEb for some time.

It will be interesting to see how JIO and Aartel support Starlink when it happens in India, given these other satellite businesses. Telecom companies also opposed the Indian government’s move late last year to reduce Starlink’s entry into the market through administrative means instead of the auction process, which is usually the spectrum.

At the present time, at least, everyone appears to be on the same page. “We look forward to working with JIO and receive permission from the government of India to provide more people, organizations and companies by accessing high internet services from Starlink,” said Join Shotwell, President and Executive Officer of SPACEX, as part of the announcement.