News excerpt:

OneWeb India has received approval from India's space regulator IN-SPACe to commence Eutelsat OneWeb's commercial satellite broadband services in the country. 

More details about the news

• OneWeb India is the first organisation to be granted this authorisation, making it the only satellite broadband services provider to get all required regulatory approvals before commercial launch.
• This will be a critical step to meet India’s ambition of providing internet connectivity for all and enable the Prime Minister’s vision of Digital India.
• The recent approval means Eutelsat OneWeb can launch commercial connectivity services as soon as the government has granted spectrum allocation.
• In March 2023, OneWeb partnered with the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) to launch 36 satellites.

Status of India’s space industry

• The Indian Space Sector was valued at $9.6 Bn in 2020 and contributes 2%-3% of the global space economy.
• The sector's size is expected to reach $13 Bn by 2025, and by 2030, India aims to capture a larger share of close to 10% of the global economy.
• The government is pushing the development of India's space industry. In the year after India paved the way for private launches in 2020, space startups rose from 21 to 47.
• Investors poured $119 million into Indian space startups in 2022, up from just $38 million in all the years up to 2017.
• As per analysts, investors see India as a less costly alternative to European launchers that are grounded or under development and have access to a bustling manufacturing hub.
• The $400 billion global commercial space market is expected to be worth $1 trillion by 2030, but at the moment, India has only a 2% share.

Eutelsat OneWeb

• It was founded in 2012 by Greg Wyler, with headquarters in London and offices in Virginia, US.
• Eutelsat OneWeb, known for its low earth orbit satellite operations, will fortify its presence in the Indian market with these approvals. 
• It was formed to remove the barriers to connectivity holding economies and communities back. 
• It is the only GEO-LEO operator in satellite communications that can offer a ubiquitous connectivity service.
• In 2023, Eutelsat merged with Oneweb and the creation of a new Eutelsat Group.

Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe)

• The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe) is a single-window, independent, nodal agency that is autonomous in the Department of Space (DOS).
• It was formed following the Space sector reforms to enable and facilitate the participation of private players.
• IN-SPACe is responsible for promoting, authorising, and supervising various space activities of non-governmental entities, including building launch vehicles & satellites, providing space-based services, etc.