OneWeb India, a subsidiary of Eutelsat Group and part of the Bharti Group, has received approval from India’s space regulator IN-SPACe to commence Eutelsat OneWeb’s commercial satellite broadband services in the country.

This authorization marks OneWeb India as the first organization to receive such approval, making it the only satellite broadband services provider to have obtained all necessary regulatory approvals prior to commercial launch.

Bharti Group chairman and vice-president (Co-Chair) of the board of directors of Eutelsat Group, Sunil Bharti Mittal, expressed his pleasure at the Indian space regulator’s green light. He emphasized that this milestone is a critical step toward meeting India’s ambition of providing internet connectivity for all and achieving the vision of Digital India. Eutelsat OneWeb is prepared for deployment as soon as it obtains the final spectrum authorization for launching commercial services.

Earlier, Mittal had announced that Eutelsat OneWeb would begin services in November after setting up a satellite ground station in Mehsana, Gujarat.

Following today’s approval, Eutelsat OneWeb can launch commercial connectivity services once spectrum allocation is granted by the government. The company has also received in-principle approval to establish and operate two gateways in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu, which will ensure the provision of high-speed, low-latency internet connectivity to customers across India once services are rolled out.

However, the commencement of commercial services is dependent on the government’s allocation of satellite spectrum, which hinges on the recommendations of the telecom regulator regarding auctions.

These approvals will strengthen Eutelsat OneWeb’s presence in the Indian market, known for its low earth orbit satellite operations. Cyril Dujardin, co-general manager of connectivity at Eutelsat Group, acknowledged the collaborative effort required to bridge global connectivity gaps and highlighted the regulatory approval as a crucial step towards delivering high-speed internet services to remote areas of India.