Jio-SES Joint Venture for Satellite Broadband Services

February 15, 2022

On February 14, 2022, the Reliance Industries Ltd (RIL) announced that Jio Platforms Ltd (JPL) and SES have formed a Joint Venture (JV) for satellite-based broadband services.

Key Facts

SES is a global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.
Jio Platforms will own 51% while SES will own 49% in the JV firm.

About the Joint Venture

The joint venture will use multi-orbit space networks, which is a combination of medium earth orbit (MEO) and geostationary earth orbit (GEO) satellite constellations.
Multi-orbit space networks will be capable of delivering multi-gigabit links and capacity to enterprises, retail customers and mobile backhaul across the length and breadth of India and neighbouring regions.
The JV will be the vehicle to provide SES’s satellite data and connectivity services across India, except for some international aeronautical and maritime customers who can be served by SES.
It will also have availability of up to 100 Gbps capacity from SES.
It will leverage Jio’s premiere position and sales reach in India, in order to unlock market opportunity.

Investment Plan

As part of investment plan, the JV will develop extensive gateway infrastructure across India, in a bid to provide services.

Capacity Purchase Agreement

Jio has entered into a multi-year capacity purchase agreement, as an anchor customer of the JV. It is based on certain milestones along with equipment purchase and gateways, with total contract value of circa USD 100 million.

Leveraging SES-12

The joint venture will leverage SES-12 which is the high-throughput GEO satellite of SES, serving India. It will also leverage O3b mPOWER which is the next-generation MEO constellation of SES. It will be done in a bid to extend and complement Jio’s terrestrial network as well as to increase access to digital services and applications.

Airtel’s JV with Hughes Communications

In January 2022, Airtel had announced JV with Hughes Communications in order to provide satellite broadband services across India, to offer flexible & scalable enterprise networking solutions by means of satellite connectivity for primary transport, back-up as well as hybrid implementation.

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