IN-SPACe authorises Eutelsat OneWeb constellation to enable the provisioning of its capacity in India for providing communication services

The Eutelsat OneWeb constellation has been permitted by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe) to use its capacity for the provision of communication services in India. OneWeb India is a subsidiary of the Eutelsat Group and a member of the Bharti Group, which runs Airtel. The first business in the nation licenced by IN-SPACe to facilitate the provisioning of Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite constellation capacity is M/s OneWeb India Communication Private Limited, also known as OneWeb India.

OneWeb India wants to offer 24/7 internet access to India's territorial seas as well as its rural and disconnected areas. With 648 satellites (plus spares) in circular polar orbits around the Earth at an altitude of 1200 km, Eutelsat OneWeb is a worldwide network that will be able to offer around 21 Gbps of throughput across India.The Department of Telecommunication must assign spectrum for the gateways and user terminal operations, as well as obtain other necessary regulatory licences and approvals. The validity of IN-SPACe's authorization to the Eutelsat OneWeb constellation is five years, according to IN-SPACe.

In addition, IN-SPACe, an independent nodal agency under the Department of Space tasked with encouraging, enabling, authorising, and supervising non-governmental organisations to engage in space activities, expressed its belief that these new birds in the sky will provide low latency, high throughput capacity, and help close the digital divide between India's urban and rural/remote areas.

According to OneWeb India, this move strengthens Eutelsat OneWeb's dominant position in the Indian market, as OneWeb India is already authorised by the Department of Telecommunications to offer satellite-based broadband services. "The company has also received approval in principle to establish and run two gateways in Tamil Nadu and Gujarat, which would ensure that, once services are launched, customers throughout India will have access to essential high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity," the statement said.