Trai bats for private players in satellites

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the sector regulator, has suggested the private sector be allowed to launch satellites in low and medium earth orbits to expand the internet footprint in India.

“We should allow anyone to step in to send these satellites. These orbits are ideal to expand broadband penetration in the country, especially in the North-East,” says R S Sharma, Trai chairman.

This will mean breaching the monopoly of Antrix Corporation, the 100 per cent government-owned company that enters into commercial deals for hoisting satellites by the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).

While Antrix Corporation has a turnover of ~1,923.63 crore, according to its latest annual report of 2015-16, it has limited its business deals to send up polar satellites and geo-stationary satellites. There is a good reason for that. Sending up satellites to the low and medium earth orbits is a costly exercise because those have limited footprints, and their effective life too is short compared to geo-stationary satellites.

The financial crunch in the Indian space programme is palpable. Isro has run a tight financial ship year after year, meeting its ambitious targets on frugal annual budgets. For 2015-16, its spend was ~6,959.44 crore, which is a 20 per cent rise year on year.

A written reply to Parliament by the department of space acknowledges this reality. “Considering the enhanced national requirements for launching satellites for earth observation, communication & navigation, the present capacity of launches is a constraint.” India currently has 38 operational satellites in orbit, comprising 16 Earth observation (including meteorological), 13 communication, seven navigational, and two space science satellites, according to the latest data provided by the department of space. These satellites are being utilised to their full capacity, the department notes.

Yet making data services available to more Indians is key to meeting the objectives of the Digital India program, which makes most government services (and also subsidies), dependent on reliable internet connectivity. Only about 460 million of India’s of 1.25 billion people will have internet connectivity by June, according to the latest data from the Internet and Mobile Association of India. But an overwhelming percentage of them will use wireless to access the internet, which, Sharma said, is not effective, given the level of data penetration required in the country.

The regulator has advised the government that, given this constraint, it will be difficult to expect Antrix Corporation and through it, Isro, to provide adequate satellite capacity in low orbits.

Nor is it necessary. Instead, the government can auction the rights to send up the low and medium earth orbit satellites to companies in the public and private sectors. Those companies can use their satellites to offer broadband connection in areas where laying optical fibre cables is difficult. NorthEastern India, with a large number of rivers and hills, is what the telecom regulator has drawn attention to. This will not clash with the mandate of either Antrix or Isro but will promote the vision of Digital India, as these low and medium earth orbiters will need low technology assistance and yet be effective. Incidentally, the department of defence of the US government uses these ranges of satellites. Set up by a company called Iridium Communications, it has been in operation since the late eighties but with indifferent commercial success. It now hopes to provide broadband connectivity to far-flung areas in the Americas. Plans for similar low earth orbit-based satellites, including one from Google to provide broadband connectivity, has been revived as costs have dropped, making them viable business options. In India too, the satellites could feed the local WiFi hot spots, from where cables or wireless could reach the consumers.

For the immediate future, Isro has other demands ranging from supporting space-based information technology connectivity in the country through first-generation high-throughput communication satellites like GSAT-11, operating in the Ka/Ku band, to satellite navigation systems, to those of space science and planetary exploration.

Consequently, Jitendra Singh, minister of state in the Prime Minister’s Office, has acknowledged that the possibility of private sector participation could be explored to ensure internet spread. In another reply to Parliament, he has said that Isro is lending a helping hand to the private sector. “Isro has been pursuing a conscious approach of building up and nurturing industrial capabilities in the country to maximally support the Indian space programme.” This includes manufacturing all space-related hardware such as rocket engines and stages; propellant tanks; spacecraft structures; solar panels; thermal control systems; and electronic packages required for satellites and launch vehicles. The Trai proposal seeks to take this to its logical end.