Private space and public permission
Published 11 October 2026
The Indian Space Policy of 2023 set out a wider opening for non-government activity. It presented private participation as part of the space economy from the creation of assets through to services. Public and private consumers would be free to procure space technologies and services directly from public or private sources. Non-government entities could undertake end-to-end work involving spacecraft, ground assets and services, subject to IN-SPACe's rules. The policy therefore recognized a range of ways to participate. A company could build or operate equipment, obtain capacity or offer services. Private involvement was not limited to supplying parts to a state programme, nor was every private service expected to own its entire space infrastructure. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
For communications, the policy explicitly allowed self-owned, procured or leased geostationary and non-geostationary satellites. It also permitted the use of Indian or non-Indian orbital resources and filings through Indian or foreign administrations. Those options put international sourcing inside the policy framework. Ownership, leasing and procurement were all recognized routes to obtaining a space capability. A domestic service did not have to begin with a wholly domestic constellation. At the same time, the policy's permission to pursue those routes was subject to authorization and other applicable rules. Opening the sector widened the possible business arrangements; it did not make every arrangement automatically lawful or remove the need to coordinate the communications system with the departments regulating its use. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
IN-SPACe's role combined promotion and authorization. The policy made it the single-window agency for space activities by government and non-government entities, while directing it to consider safety, national security, international obligations and foreign policy. Its remit included spacecraft operations, launch vehicles, launch facilities, planned re-entry, telemetry and command stations, and satellite control or data-reception stations. Those were permissions for activities in the space system and its supporting facilities. The policy did not turn IN-SPACe into the sole regulator of every service delivered through that system. Its detailed list instead defined the parts of the activity that required its authorization while preserving the wider government's responsibilities. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
The policy also assigned IN-SPACe a role in coordinating orbital resources and authorizing the use of spacecraft for communications or broadcasting to and from Indian territory. It was to work with other departments on that use. Coordination was necessary because the same satellite could be relevant to space operations, radio-frequency management and the service carried over the link. A communications spacecraft was an asset with several regulatory dimensions. The policy's wider commercial opening depended on those dimensions being managed together. Its single-window language concerned space authorization, not a promise that a company could dispense with spectrum rights, service permissions or rules attached to the traffic it intended to carry. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
The policy assigned ISRO a different emphasis from that of a commercial operator. It was to focus on research and development, demonstrate new systems and serve national priorities, while moving mature operational systems toward industry. Sharing technology with non-government entities was part of that role. This division allowed a public institution to develop capabilities that companies could use without requiring the institution to remain the manufacturer of every operational asset. It also preserved functions that did not depend only on a profitable retail market. Research, capacity building and national missions remained within the public programme. The policy sought a larger commercial sector while retaining a state role in the development of technology and applications. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
Access to publicly produced data was another part of the opening. ISRO was to make remote-sensing data at five-metre ground resolution or coarser readily accessible on a free and open basis. Finer-resolution data would be free to government entities but offered to non-government entities at fair and transparent prices. Archived data and thematic products were to be available for research and further value addition on an as-is basis, with their resolution and latency made public. Although this was not a broadband subscription rule, it showed how the policy distinguished access to an existing public output from ownership of the spacecraft producing it. A company could build an application using data it had not collected itself. The framework treated the price and conditions of that access as part of the commercial ecosystem, alongside permission to operate new assets. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
NSIL, the public-sector commercial company, was assigned responsibility for commercializing technologies and platforms created with public expenditure. It could manufacture, lease or procure assets from public or private suppliers on commercial principles and meet the space needs of government or other users. That mandate added another route between a state-developed capability and a customer. It was not the same as IN-SPACe's authorization role or ISRO's research role. The framework divided promotion and permission, technical development and commercial supply among institutions with different functions. A company seeking satellite service in India could therefore interact with several public bodies for different reasons. The presence of several bodies was not proof that each was repeating the same approval. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
The policy expressly left telecommunications carried through authorized spacecraft subject to DoT's rules and policies. Broadcast uses remained under the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. This clause is short, but it places an important boundary around the space opening. Permission to use a spacecraft was not a general exemption from the rules governing what was done through it. A satellite could carry different kinds of traffic and support different services; each service could still fall within a department's jurisdiction. The policy therefore encouraged a wider range of suppliers while keeping the activity on the link regulated. The same asset could require space authorization and still depend on a service permission for its commercial use. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
The space policy's approach to Indian orbital resources combined openness with incentives. Companies could use foreign resources, but IN-SPACe was also to help and incentivize entities acquiring new resources through Indian international filings. It would similarly support bringing operations that used non-Indian resources under a coordinated, registered Indian filing, in accordance with the international rules. The agency was to balance the interests of government bodies and non-government entities in filings made through DoT's frequency-management authority and protect their use. That provision gave domestic coordination a role without demanding that every business begin with an entirely Indian-owned fleet. The policy also assigned IN-SPACe binding procedures for prioritizing access to facilities created with public money. Private participation therefore raised questions about scarce public infrastructure and international rights as well as about permission to build a spacecraft. Those questions would matter to a future Indian constellation seeking facilities and filings alongside established public missions. isro.gov.in, Indian Space Policy - 2023
On October 27, Jio demonstrated JioSpaceFiber at the India Mobile Congress. Its release described satellite-based gigabit broadband aimed at places that had been inaccessible to other forms of high-speed service. The demonstration used SES's medium Earth orbit technology, including O3b and O3b mPOWER. Jio named four connected locations: Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chhattisgarh, Nabrangpur in Odisha and an ONGC site at Jorhat in Assam. These were company-reported deployments supporting a demonstration, not a subscriber total for a national retail launch. The release said the service would become available across the country at affordable prices, but it did not publish a retail tariff with which a household could compare its existing connection. ril.com, JIO DEMONSTRATES INDIA'S FIRST SATELLITE-BASED GIGABIT BROADBAND TO CONNECT THE...
Jio placed JioSpaceFiber alongside JioFiber and JioAirFiber in its broadband portfolio. It also described additional satellite capacity for mobile backhaul, linking the service to the reach of Jio's 5G network. The brand therefore sat across several uses of the link. A demonstration of gigabit capacity did not mean that every individual consumer was offered a gigabit connection under a published contract. SES's chief strategy officer spoke of multiple gigabits per second of throughput to a location, while Jio spoke about access to government, education, health and entertainment services. Those descriptions show the intended applications and the performance ambition. They remain distinct from measured nationwide customer experience or a finalized mass-market offer. ril.com, JIO DEMONSTRATES INDIA'S FIRST SATELLITE-BASED GIGABIT BROADBAND TO CONNECT THE...
On November 21, IN-SPACe authorized the Eutelsat OneWeb constellation to supply capacity in India through OneWeb India Communication Private Limited. It called OneWeb India the first company authorized by it to make a low Earth orbit constellation's capacity available in the country. The release described 648 satellites, including spares, in circular polar orbits at twelve hundred kilometres, with about twenty-one gigabits per second of throughput over India. These numbers had specific scopes. The satellite figure referred to the global constellation, while the throughput referred to capacity over India. They were not an individual user's speed or a count of paying Indian customers. The authorization allowed a defined space capacity to be provisioned under stated conditions. inspace.gov.in, Press Release IN-SPACe grants authorization to OneWeb India
The authorization was valid for five years and remained subject to spectrum assignment by the Department of Telecommunications for gateways and user terminals, together with other necessary licences and approvals. OneWeb had obtained a space authorization, but the radio links and the service still required their own permissions. A constellation could be accepted for use without every frequency needed by its ground equipment having been assigned. The regulatory sequence therefore had more than one finishing line. inspace.gov.in, Press Release IN-SPACe grants authorization to OneWeb India
Eutelsat's own announcement made the remaining spectrum condition explicit. It said commercial connectivity could launch as soon as government spectrum allocation was granted. The company also said OneWeb India already held the relevant DoT licences and had in-principle approval for two gateways, in Gujarat and Tamil Nadu. A note added that foreign-investment approval was still awaited to finalize the investment in the Indian entity. That collection of permissions described progress rather than a single all-purpose clearance. Space authorization, service licensing, gateway approval, spectrum allocation and investment approval addressed different parts of the business. The company's readiness claim existed alongside a clearly stated need for the next regulatory step. eutelsat.com, Eutelsat OneWeb first to receive approval from Indian space regulator