After Elon Musk, Amazon eyes India’s satellite internet space: Report

Amazon will join Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Bharati Airtel-backed One Web in a competition that could drive down broadband prices in India (Image: Falcon 9 delivers 60 Starlink satellites to orbit | Twitter/@SpaceX)

Amazon is looking to enter the high-speed satellite internet services space in India, sources told The Economic Times.

Amazon “will approach the government to discuss authorisations, landing rights, modalities, permits, and satellite bandwidth leasing costs” the paper quoted the source as saying.

Moneycontrol could not independently verify the report.

Landing rights, which is used to downlink signals of foreign satellites in India, are provided by the Department of Space (DoS).

The source added that talks are on with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and DoS for “necessary regulatory approvals” to bring Amazon’s high-speed broadband services to India via the company’s global space internet initiative Project Kuiper.

Under Project, Kuiper Amazon is investing $10 billion to build a constellation of 3,236 low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites. Specific plans for India have not yet been disclosed.

Amazon did not respond to queries, as per the report.

The e-commerce giant will join Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Bharati Airtel-backed One Web in a competition that could drive down broadband prices for the country. SpaceX’s Starlink is believed to have first-mover advantage.