Satellite internet in India may arrive sometime next year
While the hot topics in India right now is 5G, the next technology that will drive the growth of wireless communication in the country is satellite communication, or rather satellite internet. Most people have heard of it. But many still do not know what it is and how it works. Satellite communication is a wireless transfer of data using satellites that are placed in the Earth’s low-orbit. It makes communication faster and more accessible to places where wire deployment is not feasible. Sounds good? But when will it become available for you? One of the network analysis firms, Ookla has suggested that India may begin commercial satellite communication by the middle of 2023.
Sylwia Kechiche, principal analyst at Ookla, told FE Online that the satellite communication may begin in India next year toward the half. The prediction is based on the government’s push for satellite communication. India fast-tracked the rollout of 5G services in India with most countries in the world, and even though 5G deployment in the country is still some years behind developed countries like the US and South Korea, India does not want to miss the bus with respect to satellite communication. Some of the companies offering satellite internet are Elon Musk’s Starlink and OneWeb.
Kechiche, however, said that low broadband penetration in India might become a hurdle in a paced rollout of satellite internet. “The actual fixed broadband penetration in India is relatively low so around 9 to 10 percent of households have access to fixed broadband and India is mostly a mobile first market. So, almost everybody has access to phones and data here is of course one of the lowest in the world,” she was quoted as saying. But since the Indian government has already allowed telecom service providers (TSPs) to use satellites for backhaul for 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies, the rollout and adoption may pick up pace.
While Indian companies have partnered satellite constellation owners and communications companies for backhaul support and possibly the deployment of satellite internet services later, Starlink — which is a service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX — was planning to enter India without partnerships, until the government intervened and blocked the company until it is issued licence for the same.
The post Satellite internet in India may arrive sometime next year appeared first on BGR India.
While the hot topics in India right now is 5G, the next technology that will drive the growth of wireless communication in the country is satellite communication, or rather satellite internet. Most people have heard of it. But many still do not know what it is and how it works. Satellite communication is a wireless transfer of data using satellites that are placed in the Earth’s low-orbit. It makes communication faster and more accessible to places where wire deployment is not feasible. Sounds good? But when will it become available for you? One of the network analysis firms, Ookla has suggested that India may begin commercial satellite communication by the middle of 2023.
Sylwia Kechiche, principal analyst at Ookla, told FE Online that the satellite communication may begin in India next year toward the half. The prediction is based on the government’s push for satellite communication. India fast-tracked the rollout of 5G services in India with most countries in the world, and even though 5G deployment in the country is still some years behind developed countries like the US and South Korea, India does not want to miss the bus with respect to satellite communication. Some of the companies offering satellite internet are Elon Musk’s Starlink and OneWeb.
Kechiche, however, said that low broadband penetration in India might become a hurdle in a paced rollout of satellite internet. “The actual fixed broadband penetration in India is relatively low so around 9 to 10 percent of households have access to fixed broadband and India is mostly a mobile first market. So, almost everybody has access to phones and data here is of course one of the lowest in the world,” she was quoted as saying. But since the Indian government has already allowed telecom service providers (TSPs) to use satellites for backhaul for 2G, 3G, and 4G technologies, the rollout and adoption may pick up pace.
While Indian companies have partnered satellite constellation owners and communications companies for backhaul support and possibly the deployment of satellite internet services later, Starlink — which is a service owned by Elon Musk’s SpaceX — was planning to enter India without partnerships, until the government intervened and blocked the company until it is issued licence for the same.
The post Satellite internet in India may arrive sometime next year appeared first on BGR India.
