Reliance Jio is quietly laying the groundwork for what could become India’s most ambitious telecom infrastructure project yet. The company is planning a low Earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation of around 1,600 to 1,650 satellites positioned at roughly 650 km altitude, as per an ET report based on information from sources.
The goal is not just broadband from space but also direct-to-device connectivity, effectively extending Jio’s terrestrial dominance into orbit. The project, still under evaluation by the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (IN-SPACe), could cost between $10 billion and $15 billion and be executed over the next two-to-three years. If realised, it would mark the first large-scale Indian entry into a domain currently dominated by global giants like SpaceX’s Starlink and Amazon’s Project Kuiper, now called Amazon Leo.
