Reliance Jio demos JioSpaceFiber: India’s first satellite-based gigabit broadband service

Leading telecom service provider in India, Reliance Jio, has announced that it has successfully demonstrated India’s first satellite-based giga fiber service, JioSpaceFiber, at the India Mobile Congress on Friday. The service aims to deliver high-speed broadband internet connectivity to inaccessible regions in the country. The company says JioSpaceFiber will be available across the length and breadth of the country at highly affordable prices.

To demonstrate its satellite-based giga fiber service, Jio connected four of the remotest locations in India, which includes Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Nabrangpur in Odisha, and ONGC-Jorhat in Assam, with JioSpaceFiber.

Reliance Jio already offers high-speed fixed-line broadband and wireless services to more than 450 million customers in India. Now, the company has added the JioSpaceFiber services to its lineup of broadband services, including JioFiber and JioAirFiber. JioSpaceFiber will provide access to reliable, low latency, and high-speed internet regardless of the location. Furthermore, the service will support additional capacity for mobile backhaul.

“Jio have enabled millions of homes and businesses in India to experience broadband internet for the first time. With JioSpaceFiber, we expand our reach to cover the millions yet to be connected. JioSpaceFiber will allow everyone, everywhere, to fully participate in the new digital society with gigabit access to online government, education, health, and entertainment services,” said Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited.

Akash Ambani, Chairman of Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited

Reliance Jio partnered with SES to utilize the medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite technology. Jio says SES is the only MEO constellation capable of delivering Gigabit, fiber-like services from space. With a combination of SES’s O3b and new O3b mPOWER satellites, Jio can provide scalable and affordable broadband services across India with reliability and service flexibility.

“Together with Jio, we are honored to support the Government of India’s Digital India initiative with a unique solution that aims at delivering multiple gigabits per second of throughput to any location in India. Our first fiber-like services from space are already deployed today in parts of India, and we cannot wait to see how this will lead to digital transformation even in the most rural parts of the country.”

John-Paul Hemingway, Chief Strategy Officer of SES

Jio has not yet announced the pricing, availability, or plans of the JioSpaceFiber services. However, we can expect more details about the service to be revealed soon.