Shares of Reliance Industries and Bharti Airtel opened on a positive note on Wednesday following the announcement of their respective partnerships with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to provide high-speed internet services in India.
Bharti Airtel’s stock surged by 5.49 per cent in early trade, reaching a high of ₹1,388.25 per share on the National Stock Exchange (NSE).
However, the gains were short-lived, as the stock later declined by 0.77 per cent to ₹1,650.10.
On the Bombay Stock Exchange (BSE), it fell by 0.49 per cent to ₹1,653.05.
Reliance Industries' shares also experienced an initial increase of 1.3 per cent, trading at ₹1,263 on the NSE, before settling 0.40 per cent higher at ₹1,242.50.
On the BSE, the stock climbed 1.13 per cent to ₹1,261.55 before stabilising at ₹1,242.50.
The broader market exhibited volatility, with the 30-share BSE Sensex falling by 171.81 points or 0.23 per cent to 73,930.51, while the NSE Nifty slipped by 45.20 points or 0.2 per cent to 22,452.70 during morning trade.
Reliance Industries’ digital arm, Jio Platforms, confirmed on Wednesday that it had signed an agreement with SpaceX to offer Starlink’s broadband internet services in India.
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This announcement followed a similar agreement reached a day earlier between Bharti Airtel and SpaceX.
Both telecom operators have indicated that their respective agreements are contingent upon SpaceX receiving the necessary authorisation to provide Starlink services in India.
Previously, Bharti Airtel, led by Sunil Mittal, had been at odds with SpaceX regarding licence fees and spectrum pricing for satellite-based internet providers.
Notably, Airtel holds a 21.2 per cent stake in Eutelsat OneWeb, a direct competitor to Starlink.
OneWeb has already received clearance to commence operations in India and is awaiting spectrum allocation to roll out its services.
Meanwhile, shares of Vodafone Idea declined sharply, plummeting by 6 per cent on both NSE and BSE to ₹6.90 per share.
The downturn followed reports from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) indicating that the debt-laden telecom carrier had lost 17.15 lakh wireless subscribers in December.
TRAI’s latest data revealed that India’s total telephone subscriber base grew marginally to 1,189.92 million in December 2024, up from 1,187.15 million in November.
Reliance Jio Infocomm led the market with 476.58 million broadband subscribers, followed by Bharti Airtel with 289.31 million, and Vodafone Idea with 126.38 million.
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