Jio receives DoT letter of intent for satellite communication services

Reliance Jio Infocomm's satellite unit has received a letter of intent (LoI) from the telecom department for satellite communication services, according to industry sources.

The letter was issued to Jio Satellite Communications Ltd (JSCL) on Monday, sources informed. An email sent to Reliance Jio for comments did not fetch a response. The sources, meanwhile, said the Department of Telecom (DoT) has granted Letter of Intent for global mobile personal communication by satellite (GMPCS) services to the company.

With this, the company can set up and operate the GMPCS services in the licensed service areas. The licences are for a period of 20 years (from the date of its grant after fulfilling stipulated conditions). The offering under GMPCS include voice and data services via satellite. These mobile satellite networks can operate with low-earth orbit (LEO), medium Earth orbit (MEO) and Geosynchronous (GEO) satellites.

On February 14 this year, Mukesh Ambani's conglomerate had announced a joint venture to provide satellite-based broadband services across India, joining the race with billionaires Elon Musk's SpaceX and Sunil Mittal's OneWeb to offer reliable, high-speed internet everywhere. Jio Platforms had announced a joint venture with Luxembourg-based SES to provide the satellite-based broadband services in India.