Space and satellite technology to drive growth in ICT sector

Space and satellite technology is increasingly finding usage in consumer-facing applications, like satellite communication (satcom) and telecast of TV directly on mobile without having an Internet connection. In his first media interaction post being elevated as president and managing director of Hughes Communications India, Shivaji Chatterjee tells Jatin Grover more about the application of such technologies through which diverse companies in the information communications technology (ICT) space can grow. Excerpts:

Q. Telcos have been opposing direct-to-mobile technology. Do you think it will affect them?

A. It is a wonderful technology for the telco to collaborate on rather than pushing it back. Today, the issue is that when you go to a field that is on the outskirts you don’t have cell coverage, that is where you will use the direct-to-device. So it is for coverage gaps. People are thinking that it’s going to change or affect telcos. But there’s basic physics, there’s a basic commercial aspect, and that is not going to change. In fact, it is the other way around. Telcos will be able to provide coverage everywhere in partnership with satcom players.

Q. How much time do you think the direct-to-mobile technology will take to come into the market in India?

A. Chips are already there and smartphone makers like Apple and Samsung have started incorporating them. I believe for voice connectivity it will take 2-3 years and for decent wider band data, it would take about 4-5 years for the technology to be deployed commercially. It will be a value-added service and pricing for that can be bundled with telcos plans based on the requirement and usage of consumers.

Q. What are the challenges in terms of the implementation of direct-to-mobile technology?

A. Direct-to-device technology today has satellite phones, like Inmarsat, Thuraya, but these phones are big, they connect to satellites that are higher in orbit. And because of that, they work in a sort of proprietary environment. What the big drive for direct-to-device will be when our smartphones can also work on satellite. That’s the big first thing. Secondly, if Leo’s (low earth orbit) systems start supporting it, the satellites instead of being 36,000 kilometers in orbit come down to about 1,000 kilometers. Another issue is that the D2M technology on a phone cannot work indoors. By design, the use cases are limited compared to normal cellular usage. Our parent company EchoStar is working to bring such technologies.

Q. How much Hughes’ India business contribute to the global revenue? What is the target going forward?

A. We have about 175 enterprise customers and have 160,000 sites in India. India contributes about $65 million to the total $2 billion revenue size of Hughes globally. We are nearly 3% of the global business. In the next few years, I would like to double the revenue. With more capacities coming in and our offering like managed services to enterprises and growing traction among businesses for a wide area network connectivity through satellites compared to software-defined multiprotocol label switching (MPLS) network provided by telcos, will also aid Hughes India operations. Satcom will always be strong in emergency communication, maritime and flight connectivity etc, but bread and butter will be enterprise. I believe that Rs 1,500 crore market size for satcom services can double given the potential of the market and government focus.

Q. Hughes in India has been making products like edge routers. Is there any plan to apply for production-linked incentive schemes?

A. We are making products like SD-WAN, edge routers, outdoor VSATs through our contract manufacturers in Manesar, Pune, and Ahmedabad. We will bring edge routers to the market in October, which are less than Rs 10,000 and do all the routing facilities. We will apply for the PLI scheme, once our products get some volumes. We need to hit a certain critical mark.

What is the difference between the services that you will be providing versus Starlink?A. We will use the capacity of OneWeb to provide satellite broadband services. OneWeb solutions are designed for enterprises, providing low jitters, low latency, and guaranteed bandwidth. On the other hand, Starlink is just giving open broadband services for consumers, which might lack in quality of services.

Q. How do you react to the telcos vs satcom debate in different areas?

A. Telcos are just worried about the big names associated with the satellite players like Sunil Bharti Mittal, Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. They feel that they have done the hard work of laying infrastructure in India, and the whole digital India programme, whether it’s a UPI, or connectivity during the pandemic, is because of the infrastructure created by them. Therefore, they feel that should be rewarded much more than others. I would like to tell them, that don’t look at satellite players as an outsider. It’s just another medium providing connectivity. We are not going to get into their turf but are open to partnerships with them in different areas. Financial Express