To gain a competitive edge in modern warfare and security Indian Armed Forces look to join hands with satcom firms

India is looking to give its defence forces a competitive edge in modern warfare and security through state-of-the-art satellite communications (satcom) in partnership with the private sector, four people with direct knowledge of the matter said.

- BY S VENKAT NARAYAN OUR SPECIAL CORRESPONDENT

The move will also open up new business vistas for satcom providers, which are yet to commence operations in the country. The department of telecommunications (DoT) is expected to conduct spectrum allocation sometime soon.

Multiple trials have been conducted by the Indian Army, Air Force and Navy with private satcom providers such as OneWeb and Jio-SES over the past two years, the people cited above said.

Trials with OneWeb, which is backed by Airtel's parent firm Bharti Enterprises, have offered low-latency, satellite-based network connectivity with military-grade encryption on multiple occasions. Jio-SES, the second Indian satcom service provider with a licence from the DoT, has also held more than two defence-sector trials, two of the people cited above said.

The trials were conducted during the India-Vietnam joint military exercise in November last year, and Operation Brahma in Myanmar in April, among other occasions. The idea behind the trials is to see how old satellite communications standards can be overhauled for the armed forces, these people added.