Reliance Jio Launches Satellite Internet to Rival Starlink
Satellite broadband for 200M rural Indians.
Reliance Jio launched JioSpaceFiber, a satellite broadband service targeting the 200 million rural Indians who currently lack reliable internet access. The service, priced at an aggressive 499 rupees ($6) per month, undercuts Elon Musk's Starlink, which is still awaiting regulatory approval to operate in India and is expected to charge roughly five times more.
JioSpaceFiber operates through a constellation of 72 low-earth-orbit satellites built by Jio's newly established space division in partnership with France's Thales Alenia Space. The system delivers speeds of up to 100 Mbps with latency under 30 milliseconds, sufficient for video calls, streaming, and basic business applications. Jio aims to cover all of India's 600,000 villages within three years.
Reliance Industries shares rose 2.8% on the Bombay Stock Exchange, adding $5.2 billion to the conglomerate's market capitalization. Analysts at Jefferies called JioSpaceFiber 'potentially the most disruptive telecommunications product launched in India since Jio's original mobile service in 2016,' which triggered a price war that gave 500 million Indians their first smartphone internet access.
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