Elon Musk's SpaceX Inks Deal With Airtel to Launch Starlink Satellite in India

Bharti Airtel has signed a deal with Elon Musk's SpaceX to launch Starlink satellite internet in India. This partnership aims to bring high-speed internet to even the most remote parts of the country, enhancing connectivity for businesses, schools, health centers, and communities.

The collaboration will also explore how Starlink can complement and expand Airtel's offerings, utilizing Airtel's ground network infrastructure.

This move comes after the Indian government sided with Musk on the spectrum allocation issue, favoring administrative allocation over auctions. The deal is still subject to regulatory approvals for SpaceX to operate Starlink in India.

Airtel and SpaceX will explore offering Starlink equipment in Airtel's retail stores and providing Starlink services to business customers. They also plan to use Starlink to bring high-speed internet to rural schools, health centers, and remote areas.

Additionally, the Airtel-Starlink collaboration will explore how Starlink can complement and expand Airtel's offerings, utilizing Airtel's ground network infrastructure. This includes leveraging Airtel's expertise in the Indian market to enhance SpaceX's direct offerings to consumers and businesses.

By adding Starlink to its portfolio, Airtel aims to expand its coverage into regions with little to no internet. This will provide businesses and communities in remote areas with more choices for high-speed internet connectivity, thereby improving their digital experience.

Gopal Vittal, Managing Director and Vice Chairman of Bharti Airtel, expressed excitement about the partnership, highlighting its significance in bringing next-generation satellite connectivity to India.

Gwynne Shotwell, President and Chief Operating Officer of SpaceX, emphasized the transformative impact Starlink can bring to the people of India and praised the collaboration with Airtel.

Starlink delivers high-speed, low-latency internet to users all over the world. As the world's first and largest satellite constellation using a low Earth orbit, Starlink delivers broadband internet capable of supporting streaming, online gaming, video calls and more.  Starlink is engineered and operated by SpaceX. As the world’s leading provider of launch services, SpaceX is leveraging its deep experience with both spacecraft and on-orbit operations to deploy the world’s most advanced broadband internet system.

Indus Towers Now A Bharti Airtel Subsidiary As Vodafone Group Made Complete Exit

On December 5, 2024, Vodafone Group shareholders collectively divested their entire stake in Indus Towers, leading to the termination of the shareholders' agreement between Bharti Airtel, Vodafone shareholders, and Indus Towers. This as part of a broader strategy to repay domestic debt and support Vodafone Idea's financial obligations.

As a result, Indus Towers, which is India's largest mobile tower installation company, became a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel in August 2024.

This move marks Vodafone Group's complete exit from Indus Towers, following a previous sale of an 18% stake in June 2024. The divestment was conducted through an accelerated book-build offering, with the proceeds aimed at addressing Vodafone's debt obligations.

This divestment is a significant step in Vodafone Group's strategy to streamline its operations and support its Indian joint venture, Vodafone Idea. The proceeds from the sale were used to repay outstanding borrowings and potentially infuse fresh capital into Vodafone Idea.

Following the divestment, Indus Towers became a subsidiary of Bharti Airtel, which held a 50% equity stake in the company as of September 2024. The stock price of Indus Towers surged by 5% in early trade on the day of the announcement.

One of the largest telecom tower companies in the world, Indus Towers provides telecom coverage across all 22 telecom circles in India, with 219,736 towers and 368,588 co-locations as of March 31, 2024.

Indus Towers offers a range of services including tower operations, power solutions, space solutions, smart cities, and next-gen solutions.

Google's Alphabet and Bharti Airtel Bringing New Laser Internet Technology in India

Google's parent Alphabet and Indian telecom and internet provider, Bharti Airtel, are working together to deploy a new laser internet technology in India, reported news agency Reuters.

This is being done under a project known as — Taara, a part of Alphabet's innovation lab called X, also nicknamed the "Moonshot Factory."

Based on open standards to work with existing infrastructure, including radio and fiber, Taara uses light to transmit information at super high speeds through the air as a very narrow, invisible beam.

The Taara team is implementing 20 Gbps connectivity over distances up to 20 km with units that are fast and easy to deploy. The team is working with telcos, internet service providers (ISPs), and governments around the world to significantly accelerate the deployment of the extensive, high-throughput networks necessary to support the future of the web.

The Taara team is currently deploying their light beam internet technology in India, Africa, and other locations around the world.

WATCH: Google parent Alphabet is delivering internet service to remote areas using beams of light. The project known as Taara is part of Alphabet's innovation lab called X https://t.co/keIr86kJr5 pic.twitter.com/xArEGntkTY

— Reuters (@Reuters) July 2, 2023

For Project Taara, the deployment with Bharti Airtel is its largest deployment in India to date, following several pilot projects including rural villages in Andhra Pradesh, downtown Nairobi, and remote areas of Fiji and Tonga. 

Notably, last year in January Google invested $700 million for a 1.28% stake in Bharti Airtel. Although, Taara's partnership with Bharti Airtel is separate from the Google investment.

In an official blog post, Mahesh Krishnaswamy, General Manager, Project Taara at X said, "Over the coming months Airtel will be deploying Taara’s links across their network in rural and urban areas in an effort to bring fast affordable internet to more people. This rollout follows a number of pilots with Airtel and is the largest deployment of Taara in India to date."

To recall, in a similar lines of laser based communications, Transcelestial, a Singapore-based startup which makes wireless laser communications equipment, had raised $10 million in a funding round led by Airbus Ventures and others, in February this year. 

OneWeb UK Unit to Acquire Upto 74% in OneWeb India: Report

UK-based Network Access Associates (NAA), a OneWeb Group company, is set to acquire up to 74% stake in OneWeb India Communications as the latter gears up to run gateways and enter the bandwidth leasing business before launching fast satellite broadband services in India next year.

At present, OneWeb India is fully owned by Nettle Infrastructure Investments, a Bharti Airtel unit.

OneWeb is the Low Earth Orbit (LEO) broadband satellite communications company. A consortium of UK Government (through the UK Secretary of State for Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy) and Bharti Global, has invested $1bn of new equity to offer broadband connectivity services, via a constellation of 650 LEO satellites.

“Now, Network Access Associates, a wholly owned arm of Bharti Global-backed OneWeb UK, will acquire a significant majority portion of Nettle Infra’s stake in OneWeb India and seek the requisite statutory approvals,” a person aware of the matter told ET on condition of anonymity.

Bharti Airtel is also a Bharti group company. Bharti Global is the overseas arm of Bharti Enterprises, the holding company of Bharti Airtel, India’s second-largest telecom operator.

UK-based OneWeb’s stakeholders – Bharti Global, the UK government, SoftBank and Hughes Network Systems – are all represented in NAA. Eutelsat too will be represented after the French geo-stationary satellite operator’s stated 24% stake buy in OneWeb-UK achieves closure, said another senior industry executive familiar with the matter.

OneWeb Group did not reply to ET’s queries till press time.

OneWeb India Communications, which recently applied for a global mobile personal communications by satellite services (GMPCS) permit to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), is likely to lease a sizable chunk of its satellite bandwidth capacity to offer cellular backhaul connectivity services to Bharti Airtel and other telcos facing challenges in offering uninterrupted 4G coverage in India’s rural and remote corners amid a paucity of mobile towers, terrestrial microwave links and fibre networks.

OneWeb India may also offer satellite-based connectivity to private Internet of Things networks in India by leveraging its upcoming in-country earth station gateways. The telecom regulator is set to back widening the scope of GMPCS licences to allow such connectivity to IoT devices within a service area.

Globally, OneWeb is setting up a global constellation of about 650 low-earth orbit satellites that will be leveraged to offer fast internet-from-spaces services worldwide. It is preparing to deliver high-speed, low-latency satellite broadband services in rural and remote regions globally including India, aiming to take on Elon Musk’s SpaceX and Jeff Bezos’s Amazon-linked Project Kuiper. OneWeb is slated to roll out satellite internet services in India by June 2022.

A slice of OneWeb’s bandwidth capacity may also be set aside to enable Indo Teleports – another Bharti Airtel unit – to offer inflight connectivity and broadband services on domestic and foreign airlines using satellite systems and also voice-calling and internet connectivity on ships. This is possible since Indo Teleports has a flight and maritime connectivity licence using satellite systems.

Original Source - Economics Times

India's Bharti Global-led Consortium Wins Bid for OneWeb, A Satellite Firm Aiming Superfast Broadband Globally

The UK government has joined forces with India’s Bharti Global to buy the collapsed satellite operator OneWeb, which is building a network of hundreds of low Earth orbit satellites in order to accomplish its goal of providing internet services to "everyone, everywhere" delivering internet connections to rural and remote places as well as to a range of markets.

The consortium, along with the UK govt, is pledging $1 billion , to be jointly invested in OneWeb. Each of the two parties -- Bharti Group & UK government -- expected to invest US$500 million for a combined investment of US$1 billion.

We are excited to announce that a consortium of @beisgovuk & Bharti Global have committed to provide more than USD$1 billion to acquire OneWeb and fund the full restart of our business operations. (1/7)

— OneWeb (@OneWeb) July 3, 2020

Notably, OneWeb went bankrupt in March while trying to build a spacecraft network to deliver broadband internet globally. On 27 March 2020, OneWeb filed for bankruptcy, following a cash crunch amidst COVID-19 crisis and at the same time surrounded by difficulty raising capital to complete the build and deployment of the remaining 90% of the network.

Founded in 2012 under the name WorldVuIt, OneWeb commenced launches of the OneWeb satellite constellation in February 2019 with a network of more than 650 low Earth orbit satellites, and by March 2020, the company had launched only 74 of the planned 648 satellites in the initial constellation.

In June 2015, Bharti Group participated in $500 million round of funding in OneWeb.

Sunil Bharti Mittal, Chairman of Bharti Enterprises, said in a statement, "I am delighted that Bharti will be leading the effort to deliver the promise of universal broadband connectivity through OneWeb, with the active support and participation of the British Government. In addition to the strategic opportunities across a wide range of other applications and working with a broad range of international partners, this business has substantial commercial use cases across the telecoms, enterprise, aviation and maritime sectors."

“With strong operational execution, we will be able to generate an attractive return for investors, while ensuring that Britain plays a leading role in space and next-generation communications,” Mittal said.

If the deal materialize, the UK Government would acquire a 45% stake in OneWeb while Bharti Global of India who would hold 55%. The deal being subject to US Bankruptcy Court and regulatory approval.

Notably, the bankrupt global satellite operator also counts SoftBank Group Corp as one of its major big investors as the Japanese conglomerate has put in over $2 billion in OneWeb . In December 2016, SoftBank had invested US$1 billion in OneWeb. In March 2019, OneWeb raised fresh $1.25 billion in funding from SoftBank, Qualcomm, Mexico's Grupo Salinas as well as the Government of Rwanda.

Bharti Airtel to Raise up to $3 Bn, Gets Shareholders Nod

Shareholders of Bharti Airtel have approved proposals to raise up to USD 2 billion in equity and another USD 1 billion in debt.

The proposal for issuance of securities for amount up to USD 2 billion received 99.99 per cent votes in favour of the special resolution at the company's EGM held on January 3, a regulatory filing showed.

The second special resolution was for issue of foreign currency convertible bonds and unsecured/secured redeemable non-convertible debentures along with or without warrants.

This also received 99.99 per cent votes in favour of the proposal.

Last month, Bharti Airtel had said it would seek shareholders' approval at an EGM on January 3 for raising up to USD 2 billion through qualified institutional placement, public issue, preferential shares or private placement.

An additional up to USD 1 billion was sought to be raised through foreign currency convertible bonds (FCCB) or debentures, the company had said in its EGM notice. PTI SR

Airtel Chosen as Network Solution Partner for Faridabad Smart City Project

Bharti Airtel (“Airtel”), India’s largest integrated telecommunications services provider, today said that it has been chosen as the strategic Network Solution partner by Faridabad Smart City Limited (FSCL) to transform the NCR satellite town of Faridabad into a Smart City.

Faridabad is amongst the 100 cities identified by the Ministry of Urban Development (Government of India) as part of the Smart Cities Mission. Faridabad Smart City Limited (FSCL) objective is to provide core infrastructure, give better quality of life to citizens and apply smart solutions to improve services and infrastructure across Faridabad.

Airtel will work closely with FSCL (Govt. of Haryana) to design and deploy a future ready high capacity network and a range of connectivity solutions to build a digitally enable Faridabad city. Airtel’s solutions will include MPLS, Internet Bandwidth and Network Hardware Equipment. Airtel will also bring to table its vast experience in deploying these solutions for governments and enterprises.

Airtel’s network infrastructure will empower Faridabad Smart City Limited to implement a range of smart solutions and e-governance services. These will include Smart City solutions such as Adaptive Traffic Control system, City wide Surveillance, Traffic Enforcement System, LED Street Lighting, Smart Signage. In future, it will include various other citizen services such as SCADA based monitoring of flow, Automated Online water quality Monitoring.

Ajay Chitkara, Director and CEO, Airtel Business said, “It is a matter of pride for us to have been given this opportunity by the Government of Haryana in their endeavour to build a Digital Faridabad. At Airtel, our mission is to add value to the lives of customers through our world-class network and products. We look forward to working closely with FSCL and contribute towards building a future ready Haryana.”

Airtel Business is India’s leading provider of ICT services with a diverse portfolio of services to enterprises, governments, carriers and small and medium businesses. It serves over 3000 Large and 500,000 Medium and Small enterprises with world-class services. Along with voice, data, video, and conferencing solutions, Airtel also provides network integration, cybersecurity, IoT, cloud, data centers, managed services, enterprise mobility applications and digital media to enterprises in India and across the world.

Airtel is a trusted solution provider for fixed-line voice (PRIs), data and other connectivity solutions like MPLS, VoIP, SIP trunking. Additionally, the Company offers solutions to businesses Audio, Video and Web Conferencing. Cloud portfolio is also an integral part of its office solutions suite. Along with voice, data and video, Airtel’s services also include network integration, data centers, managed services, enterprise mobility applications and digital media.

Bharti Airtel Limited is a leading global telecommunications company with operations in 18 countries across Asia and Africa. Headquartered in New Delhi, India, the company ranks amongst the top 3 mobile service providers globally in terms of subscribers. In India, the company's product offerings include 2G, 3G and 4G wireless services, mobile commerce, fixed line services, high speed home broadband, DTH, enterprise services including national & international long distance services to carriers. In the rest of the geographies, it offers 2G, 3G, 4G wireless services and mobile commerce. Bharti Airtel had over 403 million customers across its operations at the end of June 2019.

Bharti Airtel Enters into an Agreement to Acquire Tikona Networks’ 4G Business

Bharti Airtel Limited (“Airtel”), Indian telecommunications services provider has announced that it has entered into a definitive agreement with Tikona Digital Networks (“Tikona”) to acquire Tikona’s 4G Business including the Broadband Wireless Access (“BWA”) spectrum and 350 sites, in five telecom circles. The acquisition is subject to requisite regulatory approvals.

Tikona currently has 20 MHz spectrum in the 2300 MHz band in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West), Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh circles. Airtel plans to roll-out high speed 4G services on the newly acquired spectrum in the five circles immediately after the closure of the transaction.

As per the agreement, the acquisition of the 4G business in Gujarat, UP (East), UP (West) and Himachal Pradesh will be undertaken by Airtel, while in the Rajasthan circle, it will be accomplished through Airtel’s subsidiary Bharti Hexacom Limited. Post-acquisition, the combined spectrum holding of Airtel in these five circles will be within the spectrum caps prescribed by the Government.

The proposed acquisition will enable Airtel to fill BWA spectrum gaps in the 2300 MHz band in Rajasthan, UP (East) and UP (West), thereby securing a pan India footprint in the band. The deal will significantly bolster Airtel’s spectrum position in Gujarat and Himachal Pradesh, taking its overall BWA spectrum holding to 30 MHz each in these circles. Post completion of the deal, Airtel will have 30 MHz in the 2300 MHz band in 13 circles giving it tremendous advantage to handle the surging data demand.

Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India & South Asia), Bharti Airtel, said, “Airtel’s continued focus on strengthening its 4G capabilities across multiple spectrum bands will be complemented with the BWA spectrum acquisition from Tikona. We believe that combining our capacities in TD-LTE and FD-LTE will further bolster our network, and help us provide unmatched high-speed wireless broadband experience to our customers. We remain committed to our vision of leading India’s digital revolution by offering world-class and affordable telecom services through a robust spectrum portfolio spread across multiple bands.”