Amazon Has A Big Plan In India To Offer Broadband Internet From Space: Key Details You Must Know

Amazon is looking to start offering ‘broadband from space’ services in India after receiving approval from the National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe), as reported by ET Telecom.

According to the report, this move is expected to make Amazon the latest entrant in the fast-growing satellite communications race—where it will compete with Elon Musk’s Starlink, OneWeb, and Jio Satellite.

Additionally, Amazon is expected to apply to the Department of Telecommunications for a global mobile personal communication by satellite license as well.

The report also claims that both Jio Satellite and OneWeb have successfully obtained the GMPCS license—and Elon Musk’s Starlink’s application is set to be reviewed soon.

Upon the completion of these processes, the Seattle-based tech giant is anticipated to offer multiple services to users in India as part of its broadband from space program. These services will include broadband plans ranging from 1 megabit per second to 1 gigabit per second.

Notably, operations of this nature have become possible after the Indian government allowed private low-earth orbit (LEO) and medium-earth orbit (MEO) satellite constellation operators to begin offering broadband from space services to users, as per India’s Space Policy 2023.

ET Telecom also reports that two prototype satellites were launched as part of Amazon Project Kuiper and that Amazon plans to launch 3,236 low earth orbit (LEO) satellites and begin operations in 2024.