There has been significant consolidation of India’s mobile operators in recent years, which has reduced a long list of 2G/3G MNOs to three major providers, plus state-owned BSNL and MTNL (which are tipped to merge themselves). This has improved the business case for mobile providers, though Vodafone Idea still hangs by a thread because of high spectrum costs and fines, and the state-owned companies remain unprofitable. But despite the consolidation, India remains a hotly competitive market, and its price wars were intensified when Reliance Jio entered the market with very low cost 4G-only offers and sub-$100 smartphones. Further competition, then, will be unwelcome, but is threatened by the emerging breed of satellite providers that are using low-earth orbit (LEO) satellites…