Entering India's emerging satellite communications field, Reliance Jio's department applied for a GMPCS license. News on February 10, Beijing time (Yu Yu) Reliance Jio Infocomm's newly established satellite department has applied for a Global Personal Satellite Mobile Communications System (GMPCS) license from the Ministry of Telecommunications, becoming the second telecommunications company to enter India's emerging satellite communications field after Bharti Airtel. Jio Satellite Communications Ltd (JSCL), launched a few months ago, marks the Mukesh Ambani-led telco's official entry into the space, where it will compete with Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, Elon Musk's Starlink, Amazon's Project Kuiper and Tata-Telesat for a piece of the new-age space broadband pie. Jio's entry has been widely watched as the telco has recently expressed strong views on the satellite spectrum allocation model, satellite gateway operations and radio frequency band selection at different forums. But this is the first formal move by its satellite arm to obtain a full satellite services license. JSCL may lease or resell satellite bandwidth capacity to provide cellular backhaul connectivity services to telcos in rural or remote corners of India where mobile broadband connectivity is weak, a person familiar with the matter told ET on condition of anonymity. Jio's new satellite unit may also offer satellite broadband services to potential customers in other vertical industries such as aviation and maritime, one of the people said. Jio did not respond until press time. So far, only OneWeb has applied for a GMPCS license to provide services utilizing the company's low Earth orbit (LEO) global satellite constellation. But it has not yet been licensed. OneWeb plans to launch broadband services in rural and remote areas of India by mid-2022. Hughes Communications India Pvt Ltd, a joint venture between US-based Hughes and Bharti Airtel, will distribute OneWeb's satellite services in India. Musk's Starlink initiative was also initially planned to launch in India, but it remains uncertain as the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the telecom regulator recently reprimanded the US company's Indian arm for taking bookings to provide satellite broadband services in the country without any license or authorization. Subsequently, Starlink India head Sanjay Bhargava resigned, and the company has yet to name a successor. It is known that Amazon, led by Jeff Bezos, has also set its sights on India's emerging satellite broadband market as part of its global space Internet plan Project Kuiper . Tata group company Nelco has announced plans to partner with Canadian satellite operator Telesat to launch Lightspeed branded satellite broadband services in India around 2024. Experts view India as an important emerging market for space service broadband, with annual revenue opportunities exceeding US 1 billion in the near future. E&Y expects India's satellite services market to grow to 4.7 billion by 2025, as nearly 75% of India's rural areas do not have access to broadband and many places still do not have cellular networks or fiber optic connections. Analysts say using satellites to boost mobile broadband coverage in rural areas where there are not enough mobile towers or terrestrial backhaul connections through fiber optic networks could be a huge asset in B2B scenarios. The relatively nascent field of space broadband has become a new battleground between Jio and other satellite operators. In a recent filing with Trai, Jio urged the regulator to allocate spectrum only through auction for setting up and operating satellite gateways. It said such a move would also adhere to the principle of same services, same rules . Jio also said its recommendations would be in line with the Supreme Court's 2012 ruling in favor of auctioning the allocation of airwaves. However, Jio's stance is in direct conflict with that of global satellite broadband operators such as Amazon, OneWeb, Hughes Communications and Telesat, which support the administrative allocation of such airwaves in line with global practice. Recently, Jio has also competed with global satellite operators to auction the coveted 28 GHz millimeter wave spectrum, which is currently used only by satellite operators but is also considered to be very efficient for 5G mobile broadband services. Jio urges industry regulators to fully use 28 GHz spectrum for 5G services. This has also been met with resistance from global satellite operators, who have warned that allocating any premium 28 GHz spectrum for 5G services will hinder satellite operations and lead to coverage gaps