Written by Nick Wood
Eutelsat-owned OneWeb has secured approval from India’s space regulator for its upcoming satellite broadband service.
It has been a long road to India for OneWeb, which has had to jump through several administrative hoops on its quest to offer connectivity from its fleet of low-Earth orbit (LEO) satellites.
Reports as far back as April last year said that Bharti-backed OneWeb had applied to the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) for permission to operate.
That was a month after OneWeb secured the necessary GMPCS (global mobile personal communication by satellite) licence from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). This is separate from the requisite ISP and VSAT (very small aperture terminal) licences, which – according to a Financial Express report – OneWeb received from the DoT earlier this month.
“We are pleased to note the Indian space regulator’s green light to launch Eutelsat OneWeb’s commercial satellite broadband services in India,” said Bharti Group chairman and co-chair of Eutelsat, Sunil Bharti Mittal. “This will be a critical step forward to meet India’s ambition of providing internet connectivity for all and will enable the Hon’ble Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India.”
