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Reliance Jio on Friday successfully demonstrated India’s first satellite-based giga-fibre service to provide high-speed, affordable Internet services in inaccessible areas across the country.

Called JioSpaceFiber, it was showcased on the first day of ‘India Mobile Congress 2023’ in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

Jio is partnering with Luxembourg-based satellite telecommunications network provider SES to access the world’s latest in medium earth orbit (MEO) satellite technology, the only MEO constellation capable of delivering gigabit, fibre-like services from space.

“With JioSpaceFiber, we expand our reach to cover the millions yet to be connected,” said Akash Ambani, Chairman, Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd. 

“JioSpaceFiber will allow everyone, everywhere, to fully participate in the new digital society with gigabit access to online government, education, health, and entertainment services,” Akash Ambani added.

Jio currently delivers high-speed broadband fixed-line and wireless services to over 450 million consumers. 

The satellite network will also support additional capacity for mobile backhaul, further enhancing the availability and scale of Jio True5G in the remotest parts of the country.

Four of the remotest locations in India have already been connected with JioSpaceFiber -- Gir, Gujarat; Korba, Chhattisgarh; Nabarangpur, Odisha; and ONGC-Jorhat, Assam.

“Together with Jio, we are honoured to support the government’s ‘Digital India’ initiative with a unique solution that aims at delivering multiple gigabits per second of throughput to any location in India,” said John-Paul Hemingway, Chief Strategy Officer at SES. 

“Our first fibre-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,” he added.