Reliance Jio and Eutelsat OneWeb, which are supported by the Bharti Group, are rumored to have urged Jyotiraditya Scindia, the minister of communications, to take into consideration the early provisional allocation of satellite spectrum for a period of about six months so that businesses with the necessary licenses can promptly begin offering broadband-from-space services commercially in India.

Before beginning commercial satellite communications services in India, which is still a developing market but has a lot of potential, businesses must obtain a GMPCS (global mobile personal communications by satellite services) license and the required regulatory approvals from the Indian National Space Promotion & Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe).

According to two persons with knowledge of the situation, the problem was raised on Monday during a meeting convened by Scindia with important industry players in the satcoms ecosystem.

The GMPCS licenses and required IN-SPACe authorizations are held by Eutelsat OneWeb and Orbit Connect India, a 51:49 joint venture between Mukesh Ambani's Jio Platforms (JPL) and Luxembourg-based satcoms company, SES. These licenses are essential for the deployment of satellite broadband services in India. Additionally, both businesses are authorized to use India's landing rights to implement their global satellite constellation capabilities. Actually, as soon as the government gives them satellite spectrum, they're prepared to start offering services.

Both businesses are vying for a first-mover advantage in the satellite communications sector, which has drawn major players from around the world including Elon Musk's Starlink and Amazon's Kuiper. The two multinational corporations still need a number of legislative permissions, including the DoT's market access clearance, the GMPCS license, and the landing rights authorization.

"The need for speedy provisional satellite spectrum allocation, administratively, was made during the meeting, and it was indicated that licensed companies could always make the necessary payments/adjustments based on the final pricing rules fixed by the government," a source familiar with the matter said.

He did, however, indicate that another meeting with Scindia is probably in the near future and that at that meeting, broad agenda items and potential policy enablers to accelerate the growth of the satcoms sector—including the provisional distribution of commercial satellite spectrum—would be discussed.

India's space economy is expected to reach $44 billion by 2033, up from its current level of around 2%, according to estimates made by space sector regulator IN-SPACe. This would represent almost 8% of the worldwide share.