Tata group company Nelco has applied for a license for global mobile personal communications satellites, with an eye on launching broadband services in space, becoming the fourth company in the country to do so, The Economic Times reported.

So far, the government has issued licenses to the satellite units of Bharti Group-backed OneWeb and Reliance Jio Infocomm, while Elon Musk’s SpaceX is still awaiting approval.

“Nelco has applied for a GMPCS license, which will enable it to offer newer services in the future,” Nelco managing director PJ Nath told ET.

The MD further stated that Nelco even demonstrated high-speed broadband connectivity with the help of Canadian organisation Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellite.

The officials of the telecommunications department also mentioned that obtaining a license does not mean that services will start immediately. In addition to the license, approval from the space sector is required, after which the spectrum must be granted to provide the service. These companies also need to build in-country earth stations.

India’s nascent market for space broadband services could be worth $13 billion by 2025 and grow slowly at 6% per year, as stated in a report by the Indian Aerospace Society.