Eutelsat OneWeb readying B2B push to connect India's last mile: Executive

The company said its regulatory work is progressing and satellite services will complement terrestrial networks, with use cases in remote areas, aviation, maritime and disaster resilience

French satellite communications (satcom) services provider Eutelsat OneWeb is ready to launch operations in India, with its infrastructure in place, as it awaits government approval of security clearances, with the company looking to use its business-to-business (B2B) model to extend connectivity to the country’s unconnected last-mile users, said Neha Idnani, regional vice-president, Asia-Pacific (APAC), at Eutelsat OneWeb.

 

While Eutelsat OneWeb primarily operates on a B2B model, Idnani said consumers would remain the ultimate beneficiaries of the technology, with satellite connectivity helping extend terrestrial networks to villages and other unconnected parts of the country.

 

“The last-mile beneficiaries would still be the villages, the unconnected parts of the country through an extension of the terrestrial infrastructure,” she said.

 

 

Asked about the timeline for the launch of satcom services in India, Idnani said the spectrum allocation and security clearance processes were moving smoothly and that the company was fully prepared from an infrastructure standpoint.

 

“I’m confident all of the regulatory and licensing work that we’ve been working with the Government of India is through. We are fully ready from an infrastructure standpoint to go live,” she said.

 

Idnani said satellites should complement, rather than replace, terrestrial networks, particularly in a country such as India with a strong terrestrial connectivity backbone. “Today, we believe satellites should be an extension to terrestrial networks and not a replacement of terrestrial networks. The strong terrestrial backbone that you have in countries like India cannot and should not be replaced by satellites,” she said.

 

On the use cases for satcom, Idnani said satellite connectivity was primarily needed where terrestrial networks were technically or commercially unviable, including on aircraft, in maritime operations and in remote areas where fibre networks could not be deployed on a commercially viable basis.

 

Satcom would also serve as a complementary source of connectivity during disasters and provide backup and network resilience, she said.

 

Allaying concerns over the pace at which Elon Musk-owned Starlink is deploying satellites in low-Earth orbit, Idnani said India and the APAC region, which accounts for more than 50 per cent of the global population, should not be concerned, given the region’s position at the forefront of innovation and technology.

 

Regarding tariff structures for direct-to-device services, Idnani said the technology would be “an add-on fringe use case,” with tariffs depending on geography, target segments, and markets.

 

“However, it’s not something that we have as a part of our current constellation. In the future, we are also in the evaluation phase,” she said when asked about the company’s plans for direct-to-device services.

 

On the use of satcom technology for defence and security, Idnani said Eutelsat OneWeb had localised its data in India and built its physical infrastructure in the country. The company also has SMA and a highly secure, encrypted layer of infrastructure, she said, adding that these capabilities were necessary for defence use cases.

 

She said the company’s communication networks were “actively deployed whether it’s in Ukraine, South Korea, or Taiwan”.