OneWeb India gets space regulator IN-SPACe's approval for commercial satellite broadband services

According to a statement from Eutelsat OneWeb, OneWeb India is the first company to be authorised for this service. Eutelsat OneWeb, a low earth orbit operator, is affiliated with the Eutelsat Group.

This approval enables Eutelsat OneWeb to commence commercial connectivity services promptly upon receiving spectrum allocation from the Government.

IN-SPACe highlighted that OneWeb India's objective is to deliver internet services to rural and underserved areas as well as territorial waters of India on a 24x7 basis.

At present, OneWeb India possesses the required licenses from the Department of Telecommunications to deliver broadband services via satellite connectivity.

The company has also received preliminary approval to set up and operate two gateways in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu.

These gateways are crucial in ensuring the delivery of essential high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity to customers throughout India once the services are launched.

"Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), Ahmedabad has authorised Eutelsat OneWeb constellation to enable provisioning of its capacity in India for providing the communication services," IN-SPACe said in a statement.

The authorisation is valid for five years and is subject to the assignment of the spectrum by the Department of Telecommunication (DoT) for both the gateways and user terminal operations.

Bharti Group Chairman and Vice-President (Co-Chair) of the Board of Directors of Eutelsat Group, Sunil Bharti Mittal, said, "Eutelsat OneWeb is ready to deploy as soon as it receives the final spectrum authorization to launch commercial services."

"Having completed our LEO constellation last year, we are perfectly placed to deliver this vital connectivity service to businesses across India," Eutelsat Group, Co-General Manager of Connectivity, Cyril Dujardin said.

At this point, the company further needs the allocation of spectrum for transmitting signals to deliver broadband services directly to customers in India.

Eutelsat OneWeb, earlier known as OneWeb, operates a global constellation comprising 648 satellites orbiting the Earth in circular polar orbits at an altitude of 1200 km. This constellation is expected to provide approximately 21 Gbps throughput over India.

The Department of Telecommunications has reached out to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for guidance on the methodology for spectrum allocation in satellite communication services.

While Trai officials have indicated their readiness with recommendations, however, the issue will be after the appointment of the regulatory body's Chairperson.