SATELLITE NETWORKS PLAYED A PIVOTAL CORNERSTONE

India missed an opportunity in cellular satellite technologies like HTS and needs to make up by accelerating adoption of LEO satellites

- PARTHO BANERJEE

Telecommunications is like transport infrastructure—one needs airplanes, trains, and automobiles—and in a developing country like India, even the bullock carts. There is always a percentage of population that remains unserved or underserved because cost economics do not permit ubiquitous coverage. Even in a most wired country like the USA, there are 15 million homes that are beyond the reach of terrestrial communication infrastructure, simply because the economics fail.

Thanks to telecom liberalization, India got the advantage of satellite communication services early in 1995 when even the terrestrial infrastructure was mostly missing or in a dilapidated state. In the late nineties, even inter-metro connectivity was through satellite networks and a lot of government initiatives in stock markets, private banks, and manufacturing units that were remotely located for tax breaks, actually got energized and survived due to satellite networks.

Satellite networks played a pivotal cornerstone role in India’s liberalization process and will continue to play a key role in building the Digital India of our dream.