Tata Group is joining the satellite internet race in India in partnership with Telesat.
The partnership will give stiff competition to other prominent players in the space, Elon Musk’s Starlink, Amazon’s Project Kuiper and Sunil Bharti Mittal’s One Web.
The partnership
Telesat is a Canadian satellite communications network provider.
The partnership has come about via Tata Group-entity Nelco, which partnered with Telesat in September 2020.
This aims to offer enterprise broadband services based on Telesat’s Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites.
Waiting For Centre To Roll Out Policy
Tata-Telesat is now working on the commercial offerings for enterprise market segments.
The partners are analyzing the market requirements, which are different for various markets segments.
They are also awaiting the Centre’s clarification of its policy regarding private competitors in the satellite broadband sector.
Dubbed, the Spacecom policy will help private players enter the market to fine-tune and complete their India offerings.
Local Partnerships
Telesat said it is also exploring options for its LEO network’s terrestrial connectivity with Indian companies.
It is also scouting site locations for gateway landing stations and Points of Presence through these partnerships.
LEO-satellite concepts, which orbit 500-2,000 km from Earth, offer speedier communications owing to lower latency and give more bandwidth per user than the currently operational Geosynchronous Earth Orbit satellites that provide broadband services.
Should Satellite Spectrum Also Be Auctioned?
In response to the debate over whether satellite spectrum should be auctioned like terrestrial spectrum, Telesat believes that auctions are inappropriate for microwave bandwidth used for satellite services.
Among other problems, this could result in wasteful spectrum usage.
In these frequency bands, there is no precedent for spectrum assignment by auction for satellite services.
Bharti-OneWeb
Last month, Bharti Group invested $500 million in satellite internet company OneWeb.
Ultimately, the company aims to provide broadband connections across the globe by next year.
OneWeb’s unique feature is its significantly lower entry cost than any other LEO, making it a “three-times lower cost constellation”, according to Neil Masterson, CEO of OneWeb.
SpaceX-Starlink
Elon Musk’s SpaceX-developed Starlink intends to provide high speed and low latency internet via satellites launched on Falcon rockets.
The cost is $ 99 or Rs 7300, including a satellite dish, a tripod, and a Wi-Fi router.
It is expected that coverage of the entire planet will be achieved by the year’s end, after which it will focus on densifying the range.
Amazon’s Project Kuiper
Developed by Amazon and targeting technologically challenged communities around the globe, Project Kuiper will provide satellite internet with low latency and high speeds.
It is expected that the $10 billion projects led by Rajeev Badyal (President) will take ten years to complete, during which time 3,236 satellites will be deployed.