At the 2023 India Mobile Congress, JioSpaceFiber unveiled itself as the first satellite-based giga fiber internet service in India. The mobile network provider is making strides in launching satellite internet services across India to connect areas that conventional networks can’t reach. JioSpaceFiber is gearing up to take on competitors such as OneWeb by Bharti Enterprises, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, and Elon Musk’s Starlink, all vying to provide satellite internet services in the country.
Jio has already connected four remote Indian locations to its satellite-based giga fiber internet service: Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chattisgarh, Nabarangpur in Odisha, and ONGC-Jorhat in Assam. While this connectivity may currently serve for testing purposes, Jio has yet to announce when these services will be accessible to customers in India and at what cost.
This innovative JioSpaceFiber service is set to rely on the Luxembourg-based satellite telecom network provider Société Européenne des Satellites (SES). It will employ SES’s O3b and new O3b mPOWER satellites in medium earth orbit (MEO) to deliver gigabit-level internet access.
Reliance Jio Chairman Akash Ambani expressed, “Jio has enabled millions of homes and businesses in India to experience broadband internet for the first time. With JioSpaceFiber, we expand our reach to cover the millions yet to be connected.”
The exact launch date for JioSpaceFiber remains undisclosed, but when it does become available, it will go head to head with providers like OneWeb (Bharti), Project Kuiper (Amazon), and Starlink (SpaceX). Jio is well-positioned to serve remote regions, potentially extending its services to new users among its existing 450 million customer base.
