Britain’s Inmarsat on competition from OneWeb, SpaceX; 5G and India potential

NEW DELHI: British Inmarsat has downplayed potential competition from Bharti backed-OneWeb and Elon Musk’s SpaceX, saying these low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellation operators “lack fundamental capabilities” of providing secure and comprehensive fast broadband coverage for meeting market needs, including in India.

Oneweb and SpaceX are planning to offer their respective satellite communications services in India by mid-next year. OneWeb has already received the Letter of Intent (LoI) for GMPCS or `global mobile personal communications by satellite services’ from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).