With the data consumption going through the roof, satellite communications services will become a critical tool to provide backhaul enabling telecom players to offer unprecedented amounts of capacity at low latency.
Satellite communication services will complement terrestrial mobile networks in a big way, especially after the advent of 5G technology services and the various technologies will be integrated in this decade to offer multitude of services to the users, according to experts who spoke at the first edition of ETSatcom’s India Satcom Symposium 2024.
Terrestrial mobile networks are providing coverage across over 95% of India, and the emergence of satellite communications or satcom will be crucial in providing connectivity to far-flung and remote locations, especially in the northeast region of the country, according to Minister of Communications, IT and Railways Ashwini Vaishnaw.
Organised by ETSatcom, the conference saw participation from top industry executives worldwide as well as regulatory and government officials from the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorisation Centre (Inspace), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), NewSpace India Limited (Nsil), and the Indian Space Research Organisation (Isro).
Executives from global satellite firms said GEOs (Geostationary Equatorial Orbit), MEOs (Medium Earth Orbit) and LEOs (Low Earth orbits) — will be a combination of mesh integrated technology networks and such networks are designed to serve together with Wi-Fi technology and terrestrial technology. Broadband connectivity will be a totally different game altogether as we towards the end of this decade.
There are now multiple operators offering different models, one of which involves a direct partnership between a satellite operator and a terrestrial mobile operator. This alludes to the growing trend of integration synergy and complementarity between different technologies and services.
Global satellite industry is worth nearly $270-300 billion, of which the market for communication services is approximately $125 billion. Companies such as Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, Elon Musk’s Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper, Canada’s Telesat and the Reliance-SES combine, amongst others, are eyeing the nascent market. EY estimates India’s space economy to grow to about $13 billion by 2025 from around a $ 1 billion annual revenue opportunity.
The Indian market offers huge opportunities which is why global firms have lined up to launch their services in the country. Space technology companies can develop numerous applications for various market segments including agriculture, health, education and financial inclusion services which fits well in the country’s ecosystem.
The Indian government in April 2023 released the Indian Space Policy 2023 which allows private LEO and MEO satellite constellation operators to launch broadband-from-space services in the country.
India’s domestic communication satellite market demand is primarily being met through GEO satellites which are operating in the Ku- and Ka- bands, as well as, through high-throughput satellites, while LEO space broadband services is an emerging future trend where firms like OneWeb, Starlink, Kuiper, Telesat plan to tap the vast potential which the country has to offer with its size and population.
