Satellite Internet In India Will Fail?

• In response to a Right to Information (RTI) query, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) revealed that, till date received “no communication” regarding satellite broadband from Amazon, Bharti group backed-OneWeb or Elon Musk’s SpaceX.
• Though there have been some initial informal discussions btw the various departments of the telecom ministry.

• Earlier, Amazon, SpaceX and OneWeb announced plans to launch satellite broadband in India by mid-2022. However, the DoT response in the RTI is in contrast with the same.
• Satellite based broadband connection operates by sending and receiving a broadband signal to a satellite in space rather than using an underground copper/fibre network, Satellite-based connectivity is possible using Geo stationery, Medium and Low Earth orbit Satellites.

Models for satellite-based connectivity include:

• Hybrid (LPWAN + Satellite) or Indirect Model: In this, each sensor and actuator in a network may communicate with the satellite through an intermediate sink node, i.e., Low Power Wide-Area Network (LPWAN) gateway.

• Direct to Satellite Model: allows devices to directly communicate with the satellite without the need of any intermediate ground gateway.

Benefits:

• Easier to deploy and wide coverage, Enabler for Internet of Things (loT) ecosystem, Stronger bandwidth capabilities, Boosting mobile broadband coverage in rural areas etc.

• Potential application:

• Remote health services, disaster management, supply-chain management, smart agriculture etc.

• Limitations:

• High cost of services ($15-$20 per GB), bandwidth limitations, high latency, impacted by aberrations in weather etc.

• On ways to make satellite communication more affordable for ordinary users, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had floated a discussion paper seeking stakeholder views on the same.