SHORT STORY

Of India’s 1.4 billion people, close to 40%, mostly living in rural areas, do not have internet access. Satellite broadband can be a game changer for them, if costs drop.

Satellite broadband internet can provide services where there is no mobile or data connectivity, such as offshore areas, or where the terrain is extremely difficult to set up terrestrial networks.

The technology has use cases across the healthcare, logistics, aviation, education, financial services, transport, e-commerce and public infrastructure sectors as well as in military applications.

insurance, yield monitoring, disaster management, biodiversity conservation, natural resource mining and urban development. Second is positioning, navigation, and timing, or PNT (in India’s case this is exemplified by the Navigation with Indian Constellation or NavIC system), which can assume a pivotal role in transportation, communication, and defence.

Third is satellite communications itself, where Satcom-as-a-service can create multiple applications in areas such as in-flight and remote-area connectivity, direct-to-home broadcasting, and healthcare, the last through telehealth and teleeducation services. India’s satellite communication (satcom) user base could reach 1.5-2 million by 2025 and generate revenue of ₹5,000-6,000 crore annually, provided the operating environment is favourable, ratings agency Icra said in 2021. Out of nearly 1.4 billion people in India, close to 40%, mostly in rural areas, do not have internet access, says the EY study issued in June 2023. “The cost per MHz, per month is high for satellite communication as compared to terrestrial communication. Moreover, there is good penetration of 2G/4G services, which cover almost all places in India. Satellitebased communication services have a lot of relevance in remote/far-off areas. In places where there is no terrestrial network, satellite communication is the only option,” said EY’s Singhal.

The senior government official cited earlier concurred, saying, “Satellite broadband is for areas where there is no mobile or data connectivity. Like offshore or where terrain is extremely difficult to set up terrestrial networks.”

Besides connecting the unconnected, satellite broadband internet has a plethora of use cases across the healthcare, logistics, education, financial services, transport, e-commerce and smart public infrastructure sectors as well as military applications. In addition, there is high demand for instant communication between government and healthcare institutions, which became the need of the hour during the covid-19 pandemic and has remained constant, said analysts at EY.

A senior industry executive said that the benefit of satellite broadband was not lost on the government, which wants to ensure that every citizen has data connectivity—and through it, the benefits of government schemes.

“The immediate opportunity lies in consumer broadband, provided costs come down, there is scalability, and certainty in policy. The imminent launch of satellite-based broadband services through Leo constellations is expected to add much-needed capacity in the Indian space ecosystem and help bring down cost of delivery,” said Singhal.

TECHNOLOGICAL ADVANCEMENTS

Leos are small satellites, and are cheaper to make. They are deployed anywhere between 160 km to 2,000 km above the earth’s surface, allowing for very low latency (data travels from terminals on the ground to the satellites and back quickly). These satellites cover a smaller circular area on the earth, so hundreds are needed for full earth coverage. They can move faster, operate at lower altitudes, and provide good connectivity with low power. Starlink and OneWeb use a constellation of Leos to provide their services. Project Kuiper also intends to use Leos.

Next are medium earth orbit or Meo satellites. They’re larger than Leos, and cost more to make and set up, but only a few are needed—about six—for full-earth coverage since they are deployed 2,000-35,786 km above earth. Meos have historically been used for GPS and other navigation applications. They can offer Gigabit, fibre-like services from space. Jio Satellite Communications intends to use a combination of Meos and geostationary earth orbit satellites (Geos).

Geos move in tandem with the earth’s rotation, and so remain above the same point on the ground. They’re deployed 36,000 km above earth and only three are needed to cover the entire planet. Geos were the only satellites in the early years of broadcast television and have hence traditionally been delivering services such as weather data and broadcast TV. Over the past few years, Geos have been enhanced by high throughput satellites (Hts), which are purpose-built for data. Global players such as SES and Viasat use this type of satellite to provide data connectivity.

STARLINK: THE FIRST MOVER

The ability to provide access where no telecom service provider can allows operatorstochargeahugepremium.That’s why Starlink’s plans begin at $99 a month, with an initial upfront cost of $499 for speeds between 50 Mbps and 200 Mbps. The total cost, which includes the antennae, can go up to $1,900-2,000 (₹158,000) a year, which is more than 10 times higher than plans offered by Airtel and Jio for speeds ranging between 100-200 Mbps, according to a report by EY. Airtel’s plans begin at ₹799 a month and Jio’s at ₹901 a month.

Starlink has the firstmover advantage globally, with operations in 50 countries and nearly 4,000 satellites in orbit over earth. It has over 2.6 million subscribers, making it the largest player in the global internet satellite market. The US Federal Communications Commission (FCC) has already given Starlink the green light for 12,000 satellites offering satellite internet services to trucks, planes and boats. It has also partnered with leading global telecom companies, including T-Mobile in the US, Canada’s Rogers, Australia’s Optus, New Zealand’s One NZ and Japan’s KDDI, to provide direct-to-mobile satellite communication sometime this year. SpaceX and T-Mobile will be testing the service in the US over the coming months.

In India, SpaceX is awaiting regulatory approval to offer Starlink’s services. The telecom department has internally agreed to give the company the go-ahead. SpaceX had started to accept bookings in 2022, even before it got any approvals, and ended up having to refund about 5,000 of them after the government intervened.

Starlink is clearly champing at the bit as it waits to roll out operations. Not surprisingly, other companies in this domain have taken a leaf out of its book and drawn up their own plans to provide connectivity worldwide. For India, that is very good news.

India’s satcom user base could reach 1.5-2 million by 2025 and generate revenue of ₹5,000-6,000 crore annually, ratings agency Icra said.