India's Reliance Jio signals interest in the LEO satellite sector

Details: Vaughan O'Grady; Category: Satellite Networks; 19 June 2026; 741 views

It’s being widely reported that Indian telecommunications company Reliance Jio is planning to develop and launch its own low Earth orbit (LEO) constellation of 1,600-1,650 satellites at an altitude of about 650 kilometres in the next two to three years.

The aim of the project, whose cost has been estimated at between US$10 billion and US$15 billion, is to offer broadband and direct-to-device (D2D) services, according to local news reports, albeit this has not apparently been confirmed by the telecom giant.

Nevertheless what does seem inarguable is that the company has submitted a proposal to this effect to regulator the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), which is evaluating the configuration and technical architecture.

As India’s Economic Times news service points out, if the proposal becomes reality it will be the first time an Indian company has entered the LEO segment.

It will have a lot of catching up to do. Starlink has 10,000 or so satellites already in space, way ahead of rivals like Amazon Leo (about 300 in orbit on the way to 3,200) or Eutelsat OneWeb (over 650 satellites in space so far). India’s Bharti Group, a Reliance rival, is the second largest stakeholder in Eutelsat OneWeb after the French government.

Of course, the fact that Jio is an Indian company means its LEO plans might be well-received, at least locally, at a time when countries are worrying about digital and data sovereignty, not to mention national security considerations, including worries about operators using interlinked satellites (as Starlink apparently does) for providing internet services.

The argument is that this system allows data to bypass national borders and that data could potentially be routed through hostile jurisdictions or surveillance hubs before reaching its destination. Thus Jio could give India a sovereign communications layer in space.

That does leave a few unanswered questions, however, particularly about capacity and costs. LEO satellites have limited lifespans, so replacement costs need to be factored in. And what about monetisation? One assumes maritime, aviation and enterprise customers along with underserved (and not necessarily high value) rural areas would be target markets.

In addition, as the Economic Times points out, orbital slot allocation through the ITU is highly competitive, and spectrum coordination is complex.

However, Jio can claim one of the largest telecom subscriber bases in the world, so bundling satellite broadband into its existing Jio services could be a useful strategy.

There’s also convergence. Jio's holding company, Jio Platforms, already operates across telecom, digital services and cloud infrastructure. This would add a, potentially useful, satellite layer and, with it, uninterrupted connectivity across terrestrial and non-terrestrial networks, plus new possibilities in edge computing.

However, despite some interesting, even exciting, possibilities, the reality is that a Jio LEO satellite service is not yet taking part in a race in which other big names have been competing for some time.