At Reliance Industries’ 49th Annual General Meeting, Jio Chairman Akash Ambani outlined an aggressive push into satellite broadband that could redefine India’s digital infrastructure. The initiative is built on a dual-track strategy: constructing a sovereign Low Earth Orbit (LEO) constellation while leasing capacity from international satellite operators to move quickly to market.
Jio is assessing plans for an indigenous LEO network of about 1,650 satellites operating at roughly 650 km above Earth. Designed to provide high-speed broadband nationwide, the system is aimed squarely at India’s hardest-to-reach locations, from remote villages and island communities to more than 5,000 border outposts where terrestrial Jio networks cannot be rolled out efficiently. The objective is universal digital access, with satellite links filling the last critical gaps in coverage. In parallel, Jio is securing leased capacity from established global constellations, a move intended to deliver early services while domestic capabilities scale up.
A central pillar of the strategy is Jio’s partnership with SES, which brings medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite technology into the mix. This collaboration marks a significant development for India’s satellite connectivity landscape, pairing SES’s existing MEO assets with Jio’s distribution reach. To underpin both partner constellations and its own future LEO fleet, Jio is building dedicated ground station infrastructure across India.
The company has already filed a regulatory proposal with IN-SPACe, setting the stage for approvals and spectrum coordination. Full network deployment, combining leased capacity and sovereign satellites, is expected over a two-to-three-year horizon, subject to regulatory timelines and manufacturing ramp-up.
By moving into LEO, Jio is stepping into direct competition with global heavyweights such as Starlink, Amazon Kuiper, and OneWeb, all vying to dominate the satellite internet market. Akash Ambani stressed that Reliance aims to become the first Indian firm to deploy a large-scale LEO constellation, reinforcing India’s “Atmanirbharta” in space technology and enabling what he framed as an “Indian satellite broadband platform of global scale”.
Satellite broadband is intended to complement Jio’s existing portfolio, which already serves more than 524 million users through 5G and AirFiber services. Together, these technologies are envisioned as a unified connectivity stack spanning dense urban centres, semi-urban regions, and the most remote frontier locations.
The satellite roadmap was revealed alongside other major announcements from Reliance Industries Limited, including board approval for a future Jio Platforms IPO and plans for sovereign AI infrastructure in Jamnagar. Taken together, the moves signal Reliance’s ambition to control critical layers of digital and space infrastructure as India’s data demand accelerates.
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