India Mobile Congress 2023: ‘Digital infrastructure made by India can accelerate world economy,’says Sunil Bharti Mittal

New Delhi: Bharti Group-backed satellite internet service conglomerate, Eutelsat-OneWeb, will commence its services in India next month, said Bharti Enterprises chairman, Sunil Bharti Mittal on Friday. 

Speaking at the inauguration of the 7th edition of India Mobile Congress, Mittal said that services will commence after the group set-up a satellite ground station in Mehsana, Gujarat for its satellite-driven internet services.

Mittal in his inaugural keynote speech highlighted that Airtel's terrestrial 5G services are already available across 5,000 districts. "Going forward, we plan to cover all of India with our 5G coverage by the end of March 2024," he added.

Other telecom operators also shared their expansion blueprints. Jio Infocomm's chairman, Akash Ambani, introduced 'JioSpaceFiber' at the IMC 2023, a broadband service promising robust bandwidth and swift internet connectivity throughout India, all at competitive rates. Vodafone Idea's additional director, Kumar Mangalam Birla, outlined their plans to significantly ramp up investments in 5G starting the upcoming quarter.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi, recognizing the efforts, granted 100 5G lab statuses to domestic organizations. Emphasizing the country's technological advancement, he remarked that the number of Indian startups has surged from mere hundreds to several lakhs.

Satellite internet services in India, however, have so far been stuck in limbo as operators continue to await spectrum clearance from the Ministry of Communications, which has been debating on whether satellite spectrum will be auctioned, or allocated administratively. 

The segment is expected to see stiff competition—apart from the likes of the Airtel-backed OneWeb group, and Reliance Jio in partnership with Luxembourg-based operator SES, international entities such as SpaceX's Starlink and Jeff Bezos-backed Project Juiper are also set to enter the industry.

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