Call drops and frequent throbbers due to weak mobile signals could be a thing of the past with players like Elon Musk-backed Starlink on the verge of launching satellite-based broadband services in India.

Currently, high-end phones like iPhones offer satcom communication in the form of emergency messages. According to experts, regular smartphones will soon catch up to satellite-communication (satcom) technology in coming years, while prices could be even cheaper or comparable to traditional services.

T V Ramachandran, President of Broadband India Forum (BIF) arguedthat satcom accessibility via handset is simply a question of volume of demand.

“Manufacturers will not let the demand [for satcom services] go to waste. They will have to drop the prices. Today you can get a good 4G phone for around ₹4,000 and now 5G phones are more easily available. People thought it would only be available for the upper crust. This is a matter of volume and the way market grows,” he said.

Pranav Roach, President of the Hughes Network Systems India Limited, a subsidiary of Hughes broadband satellite service provider, said satcom will be available on affordable phones. “These are mass global systems, so they have to be affordable. The handsets will come with the capability,’ he said. Hughes is one of the investors in OneWeb, a British satellite services firm that is launching broadband across different countries, including India.

India has so far been using Geostationary Earth Orbit satellites mostly for imagery, and direct-to-home broadcasts. However, these systems have some limitations for two-way communications because they are operating in an orbit that is 36,000 km away from Earth. This latency can become a problem when it comes to mission-critical data services which need real-time data access.  But now, players such as Elon Musk’s Starlink and Jeff Bezos promoted Project Kuiper are deploying satellites at Low Earth Orbit which operate at much lower orbital distances, ranging from 160 to 2,000 km, making them conducive for providing high-capacity broadband.

Globally, satcom services have so far been deployed to offer fixed broadband service and as backhaul infrastructure for telecom operators. Over 90 telecom operators representing approximately 5 billion connections globally have formed partnerships with satellite operators. However, tech advancements have made it possible for satcom players to offer seamless broadband connectivity directly to the users’ smartphones, bypassing traditional cell towers altogether. 

Starlink is in fact setting up an eNodeB modem on its satellite. This modem works with existing smartphones, doing away with the need for any extra hardware or software on a user’s smartphone, essentially acting like a mobile tower in space.

American chipmaker Qualcomm is designing chipsets that will enable smartphones to receive satellite broadband signals. Manmeet Singh, Senior Director at Qualcomm India Pvt. Ltd said, “We are looking at this being made available to a range of handset devices, not limited to high-end only. The service will be available for IOT devices as well and can be used for logistics and tracking services,” said Singh.

Despite the confidence in accessibility, Roach said it was too early to comment on whether satcom tariffs could be comparable to terrestrial prices on a per MB basis. He listed variables like the spectrum is auctioned at as variables that will influence this aspect of the service. Currently, in the US, Starlink charges $90 to $120 per month for a speed of 20-250 Mbps while more traditional services like T-Mobile Home Internet charges $60 per month for a speed of 72-245 Mbps.

However, Ramachandran said that while satcom will be competitive with terrestrial services, it will not exceed the latter in terms of cost in the near future. The mobile operators are under huge financial strain which has reduced the telecom market into a duopoly. In comparison, investment into a satellite network is a one-time event with minimal additional investments required. “The cost of satcom will not be like terrestrial. The cost will be around launching the satellite but you won’t have costs related to building out a ground network as with terrestrial mobile services,” said Ramachandran.

At least half a dozen players, in addition to Elon Musk-backed Starlink and Jeff Bezos’ Project Kuiper, are looking to enter the Indian satellite communication (satcom) market. This includes Munich-based Rivada Networks, California-headquartered Viasat, Barcelona’s Sateliot, Ottawa-based Telesat, and Globalsat from Delaware. While this allows broadband consumers more options, incumbent telecom operators - Reliance Jio and Airtel - now have to worry about protecting their market.

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