As Jio Platforms courts a promising IPO amid Reliance Group's plan to launch a satellite venture, it's heartening to see Mukesh Ambani welcome foreign competition from the likes of Elon Musk's Starlink, making for a nice headline-grabbing clash of billionaires. But the game has not even begun.
On paper, both Jio and telecom rival Bharti Airtel have interesting plans largely still in the works. Reliance Jio plans to deploy a sovereign low-Earth-orbit (LEO) network of about 1,600 satellites and 23 Earth stations in India to connect 6 lakh villages, besides remote islands. The venture is estimated to cost $10-15 bn.
