Context:

• Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) recently demonstrated JioSpaceFiber, India’s first satellite-based giga fiber service to provide high-speed broadband services in inaccessible geographies in the country.

Jio SpaceFiber – Key Highlights

• Four remotest locations in India — Gir in Gujarat, Korba in Chattisgarh, Nabrangpur in Odisha, and ONGC-Jorhat, Assam have been connected with JioSpaceFibre.

What is JioSpaceFibre?

• JioSpaceFiber is an Internet network relying on satellites.
• Reliance Jio has joined forces with SES, a satellite communication provider based in Luxembourg, to drive this ambitious project. 
• They will utilise SES’s O3b and the latest O3b mPower satellites for this initiative.
• Medium earth orbit (MEO) technology will be utilised to enhance the mobile backhaul capacity, allowing Jio’s True5G network to extend its coverage, even reaching remote regions.
  • Mobile Backhaul (MBH) is the process of connecting cell site air interfaces to wireline networks, which are subsequently connected to data centers that host the content and applications accessed by mobile users—both human and machine. 
• Jio SpaceFiber is already accessible in four of India’s most distant locations, including Gir (Gujarat), Korba (Chhattisgarh), Nabarangpur (Odisha), and ONGC-Jorhat (Assam). 

What is a Medium Earth Orbit?

• The region of space in between the low Earth orbit and the geostationary orbit is called the Medium Earth Orbit (MEO). 
• This orbit is at a distance of 2000 to 35786 kms from the earth’s surface. This orbit is ideal for navigation and communication satellites.

What is satellite internet?

• Satellite internet offers internet connectivity by wirelessly transmitting information through a satellite network in space.
• The differentiating factor with satellite internet is that it provides connectivity without the restriction of cables having to reach poor terrain or remote regions.

• This is why satellite internet is also often used as backup when there are land-based outages, for example, in the wake of a disaster. 
• In addition, it’s ideal for connecting moving objects, like aircraft, UAVs (Uncrewed Aerial Vehicles), ships, and trains.

News Source: HinduBL