Race for satellite broadband in India

Satellite broadband services can connect the most remote parts of the country which are otherwise difficult to connect through fibres.
Satellite broadband services can, therefore, help in addressing the need of the market for fibre-like connectivity in the remotest parts of the country with high reliability and flexibility.
The rollout of satellite broadband communication services can close the digital divide in India. With the Bharatnet project(world’s largest rural broadband project), India aims to better facilitate e-governance applications like telemedicine, access to land records, treasury, police stations, Internet access, and many other services in rural India.
- The project is implemented by Bharat Broadband Network Ltd (BBNL), a special purpose vehicle set up under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). The entire project is being funded by Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF). With the BharatNet initiative, the Centre aims to connect all 2.5 lakh gram panchayats through optical fibre. The project is a Centre-State collaborative project, with the States contributing free Rights of Way for establishing the Optical Fibre Network.
Access to high speed data broadband connectivity is vital for economic development.
- A World Bank study has estimated that a 10% increase in broadband connectivity leads to a 1.38% increase in Gross Domestic Product(GDP).

Satellites can also provide:

Vital broadband services for those in underserved rural markets
Competitive broadband services for those already served by terrestrial data services
Maritime broadband for cruise ship passengers and crews on various ocean going vessels
In-flight connectivity (IFC) broadband services for commercial and government aircraft passengers and crew

The two biggest developments in the global satellite communication space are the emergence of LEO (low-earth orbit constellations) which promises to provide truly global coverage and lower latency service, and HTS (High Throughput Satellites Service) which offers unprecedented capacity and flexibility.
In addition to these geostationary (GEO) high throughput satellites, several companies have already launched or have plans to launch thousands of new high throughput (non-geostationary) satellites in Low-Earth and Medium-Earth orbits to provide high-speed broadband at low latency levels.
- Latency is a time delay or how long it takes data to travel between the sender and the receiver — or between a specific user action and the response. Network latency is a significant internet connectivity issue that can be caused by several things that will dramatically impact a user’s internet experience.

Although India is about to see the roll out of 5G services, infrastructure woes like inadequate tower fiberisation questions the success of 5G in connecting different parts of the country which do not have even 4G access till now.
Satellite data transfer provides very slow Internet speeds and limited satellite bandwidth because of the distances the signals have to travel and all the potential obstacles in between. Connection times can also be impacted by your surroundings, the length of your message, and the status and availability of the satellite network.
Satellite Internet latency can be a significant problem. This can be a matter of only a second or two, but a delay on that scale can seriously affect real-time applications like video chats.
Unlike terrestrial communications, minor changes in weather can have a massive impact on both the speed and latency of satellite data.
Because satellite networks are complex, satellite Internet providers often charge based on throughput.
- Higher throughput refers to higher data processing and transfer capacity than conventional satellites while using the same amount of orbital spectrum.
This along with the complex equipment like satellite dishes being used to avail these services makes the service expensive

References

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