Deal: Trilegal advised NSS B.V. (an SES S.A. affiliate) in a joint venture with Jio platforms offering satellite-based broadband services

Trilegal advised NSS B.V, an affiliate of the Luxembourg-based satellite and terrestrial communication provider SES S.A., on all legal aspects of its joint venture (JV) with Jio Platforms in India. The JV will facilitate SES’ market entry into India, thereby becoming one of the first major players to enter the satellite sector in India.

“This is a significant venture for digital India which will pave the way for the use of satellites in boosting last mile connectivity and will improve network coverage to remote areas of India,” said Nikhil Narendran, Partner (TMT), who led the deal on commercial and regulatory aspects along with Partner Aniruddha Sen (Corporate and M&A), who worked on the corporate aspects of the deal.

The proposed policy changes to the space sector in India have made satellite communications a propitious area of investment. In that context, this deal is one-of-its-kind as it involved structural and operational challenges due to Spacecom policy that is yet to be notified.

The Trilegal team worked on the deal right from the time when changes were proposed in the space sector to encourage private participation. The team played a significant role in structuring the joint venture, as well as on technology, telecom, regulatory, corporate, taxation, and competition law aspects of the deal.

Other Trilegal partners involved in the deal are Samsuddha Majumdar (Tax), Nisha Kaur Uberoi National Head of the Competition Practice (Competition) and Gautam Chawla (Competition). They were supported by attorneys including Sonam Mathur and Aditi Goyal, Counsels; Jishnu Sanyal, Sakshi Agarwal and Kartikey Kulshrestha, Senior Associates; Monik Damania, Senior Consultant; Aparajita Lath, Krati Hashwani, Vartika Tiwari, Anushka Mehrotra, Surbhi Jaju, Madhav Kapoor, Rishi Kauntia and Aishwarya Palan, Associates.