'From Covering Skies To Blue Oceans': Airtel's Sunil Mittal On Telecom's Partnership With SpaceX

Founder and Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, Sunil Bharti Mittal, welcomed the recent partnership between Indian telecom companies and the US-based internet service provider, Starlink. 
"A new era of seamless global connectivity beckons," he stated in a released statement.
After Sunil Mittal-led Airtel secured a partnership with Elon Musk's Starlink to bring high-speed satellite-based internet to India on March 11, Reliance Jio announced its collaboration with Starlink on Wednesday to advance its service from traditional methods to satellite technology.

Covering The Oceans and The Skies

Mittal expressed that he has repeatedly vouched for collaboration between satellite providers and telecom companies, as it will open up new possibilities for internet service and allow internet access to areas where it is difficult to reach. He is also confident that, with the combined strength of the satellite and telecom industries globally, soon customers will be able to use mobile phones in the remotest parts of the world.

"I always made a call to both the telecom and satellite players to work together, combine their strengths and complete the mission of connecting the unconnected, covering the oceans and the skies as well as diffcult-to- reach areas" he added further in his note.

Mittal also believes that satellite technology can revolutionize the telecom landscape and develop advanced networks in the future. "Just like 4G, 5G, and 6G in the future, we will now have one more technology in our mix: SAT-G," he stated.

Jio With Starlink:

In a released statement on Wednesday, Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Industries announced its deal with SpaceX, the parent company of Starlink. The agreement also specifies that Jio will provide its retail infrastructure to sell Starlink equipment, while Starlink will offer its broadband internet services to Jio customers in India.

However, the operationalization of these deals between Reliance-Starlink and Airtel-Starlink is subject to approval from the Indian government, as the US firm still requires licensing to operate in the country.