“India’s fixed broadband price-points (offered by Jio and Airtel) at around $10-13 a month are 1/4th of the average global Starlink price plans of $40-50 a month, and also come with free hardware and zero installation costs,” Axis Capital said in a research note, a copy of which was seen by ET.
It said satellite-based broadband services from Starlink and others will take a long time to impact the terrestrial network businesses of Jio and Airtel, who also have their own satcom plans. “User experience of satellite broadband vs fixed broadband is comparable, but it remains a premium service,” the brokerage said.
Analysts and industry executives expect satellite broadband to remain a niche communications service in India in the medium term due to high hardware cost at customer sites, and growing appetite for more affordable 5G-based fixed wireless access (FWA) services. As per company data, Jio and Airtel sell monthly FWA services at $12.6 and $11.2, respectively, while their monthly fixed broadband pack rates are at $9.8 and $11.2 respectively.
Lately, 5G-based FWA services, which use airwaves instead of cables/fiber to provide fixed broadband access, has been driving wired broadband growth in India. This, since terrestrial wireless broadband technology can connect many homes rapidly, overcoming last-mile connectivity challenges posed by traditional fiber-based broadband.
A battle is already underway pitching global satellite firms such as Starlink and Jeff Bezos-led Amazon Kuiper against India’s top telcos Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) over the allocation mode of satellite spectrum and its pricing to support broadband-from-space services.
India’s top telcos are seeking equal treatment of telecom and satcom services. They have urged the telecom regulator to permit only auctioned satellite spectrum for servicing urban or ‘retail’ consumers, saying Starlink, Amazon and others have a clear plan to offer satellite broadband services in urban areas and eventually compete with them directly. More so, since telcos have spent billions of dollars in buying spectrum for terrestrial networks. The satellite firms, though, have rejected the telcos’ call for auctioning satellite spectrum, contending that since satcom airwaves are a shared resource, they cannot be auctioned.
“We are not concerned about Starlink’s potential pricing of satellite broadband in India, and how they compare vs terrestrial broadband rates. Our only contention is that there must be a level playing field between telcos and satcos for accessing valuable satellite spectrum, and we are counting on the Indian government to finalise a fair satellite spectrum allocation and pricing policy…,” a senior executive at one of the Big 3 telcos told ET.
