Reliance vs Bharti Airtel: Over the last two days, India’s two biggest telecom players- Bharti Airtel and Reliance-owned Jio Platforms have announced their deals with Elon Musk’s SpaceX to bring high-speed satellite internet service Starlink to India.

Bharti Airtel on March 11 said it had signed an agreement with SpaceX to bring high-speed satellite internet service Starlink to India followed by a similar announcement by Jio on March 12.

With both telecom players announcing their collaborations with SpaceX, investors are keenly evaluating which telecom stock offers the best buying opportunity after the deal.

Which stock to buy? Reliance or Bharti Airtel?

Ross Maxwell, Global Strategy Operations Lead at VT Markets, pointed out that the agreements between India’s tech giants Airtel, Jio, and SpaceX offer a great opportunity to provide India’s dense rural populations with affordable access to internet services.

Maxwell added that it could also bring competitive pressure on pricing in a sector dominated by Jio and Airtel while increasing the market growth potential in India’s satellite and broadband market.

While the deal is positive for both telecom players, as it enables them to expand their consumer base in remote and rural areas where optical fibre deployment is challenging, experts believe SpaceX stands to benefit more than these companies.

According to Avinash Gorakshakar, the head of research at Profitmart Securities, the deal with SpaceX is not an exclusive deal with any one company as both have made similar announcements regarding the collaboration with Elon Musk’s company.

“The collaboration will be more beneficial for consumers and SpaceX, which will gain access to a large market, rather than for domestic telecom players,” said Gorakshakar.

Prashanth Tapse, senior VP of research at Mehta Equities, sees the collaboration as positive for Jio and expects the company to acquire more consumers.

“With Elon Musk’s satellite-based internet service, Starlink, Jio can expand its reach and provide faster, more reliable internet access to customers in underserved regions,” said Tapse.

Tapse is bullish on Bharti Airtel also. He underscored that Airtel is a pure telecom player, while Jio is part of Reliance, which operates multiple businesses. As a result, Jio’s share price is influenced not just by its telecom segment but also by the performance of Reliance’s other ventures.

“We are very optimistic about Bharti Airtel as it is a leading global telecommunications company operating in 18 countries serving over 352 million customers in India and more than 210 million globally,” said Tapse.

“In the near term, the company may also explore possible updates on direct-to-home (DTH) business, which can be the next big trigger in the space,” said Tapse.

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Disclaimer: This story is for educational purposes only. The views and recommendations above are those of individual analysts or broking companies, not Mint. We advise investors to check with certified experts before making any investment decisions.