JPL-SES Joint Venture: Jio Platforms Ltd, the digital arm of Reliance Industries (RIL) has formed a Joint Venture (JV) with Luxembourg-based satellite and telecom services provider SES,  named Jio Space Technology Ltd. to provide satellite-based broadband communication services in India.

SES is a global satellite-based content connectivity solutions provider.

Key Points:

• The joint venture will deliver the next generation scalable and affordable broadband services in India, leveraging satellite technology.
• Jio Platforms Ltd will hold 51% and SES will own a 49% equity stake in the joint venture.
• The total value of the contract is around $100 million.
• As part of the investment plan, the joint venture will develop extensive gateway infrastructure in India to provide services within the country.

About the Joint Venture:

• The joint venture (JV) will use multi-orbit space networks that is a combination of GEO (geostationary equatorial orbit) and MEO (medium earth orbit) satellite constellations.
• It is capable of delivering multi-gigabit links and capacity to enterprises, mobile backhaul and retail customers across the length and breadth of India and neighbouring regions.
• The JV will be the vehicle for providing SES’s satellite data and connectivity services in India, except for certain international aeronautical and maritime customers who may be served by SES.
• It will also have availability of up to 100 Gbps capacity from SES.
• It will leverage Jio’s sales reach in India to unlock this market opportunity.

SES-12:

• The joint venture will leverage SES-12 which is the high-throughput GEO satellite of SES, serving India.
• It will also leverage O3b mPOWER which is the next-generation MEO constellation of SES.
• It will be done in a bid to extend and complement Jio’s terrestrial network as well as to increase access to digital services and applications.

Difference between Jio’s proposed satellite broadband service and Starlink or OneWeb:

• SES primarily has satellites in the GEO and the MEO, while those of Elon Musk-led Starlink and Bharti Group’s OneWeb are in low earth orbit (LEO).
• While GEO satellites are positioned at an altitude of 36,000 km, MEO and LEO are lower at altitudes of 5,000-20,000km and 500-1,200 km, respectively.
• The altitude of the satellite is directly proportional to the area of earth that it covers. Therefore, the higher a satellite is positioned, the larger an area it covers.

Advantages and disadvantages of GEO, MEO and LEO:

• GEO and LEO satellites are considered to be the two extremes in satellite communications.
• GEO satellites provide a larger coverage and therefore only three satellites can cover the whole earth, hundreds of LEO satellites are needed to provide coverage to a larger area.
• While, LEO satellites are smaller and are cheaper to launch than GEOs or MEOs.
• But, LEO based satellites have risks, for instance the recent incident of SpaceX’s satellites falling out of orbit as a result of the solar flare has put the spotlight on the riskiness of the technology and the threat from the space debris it creates.
• For MEO satellites, on the other hand, while a simple equatorial orbit covers 96% of the global population, it shares some disadvantages of GEO satellites such as the need for a high inclined antenna for locations away from the equator.

About SES:

• SES is a world’s leader in satellite-based content connectivity solutions.
• Listed on the Paris and Luxembourg stock exchanges, SES has over 70 satellites in two different orbits.
• It provided video and data services to customers across the world.
• Through a string of acquisitions, SES has managed to expand its video and data business beyond Europe to international markets such as the US, India, Kenya, Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia, the Philippines, Malaysia and Australia.