India Space Congress 2025: ‘Time for space sector to lead with urgency,' says IN-SPACe chairman Pawan Goenka
The regulatory uncertainties talked about by the satellite communications industry are all coming towards a resolution, said Dr Pawan Goenka, the chairman of The Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Centre (IN-SPACe).
He also confirmed that the Indian government has awarded Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) licences for low-earth orbit (LEO) satellite constellations to three satcom firms.
'We have given three licenses for LEO satellite constellation for communication already, and with all of these things, I hope that the digital divide that India has will be taken care of, and India will be able to take communication in every nook and corner at affordable rates very quickly,' Goenka said at the India Space Congress 2025 held by Satcom Industry Association (SIA-India) in Delhi on Wednesday, 25 June.
The three-day conference hosted by the space industry body representing Hughes Communication, Agnikul, etc., kicked off on the same day as the launch of the Axiom-4 mission to the International Space Station, with India's Shubhanshu Shukla and three other astronauts on board.
The mission had faced multiple delays because of weather and technical issues before finally taking off from NASA's Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida, US at about 12pm India time on Wednesday.
'Many private sector companies have demonstrated their capability in multiple areas and also realised at the same time that space is not a game for kids. There is a lot that needs to be done, a lot of technological complexities. Even well-known launches get delayed multiple times in order to get it right. But that should not be a concern at all,' Goenka said.
Elon Musk's Starlink recently became the third satcom firm to become licensed to operate in India, following Eutelsat's OneWeb and Reliance Jio. While India is set to assign spectrum to satellite firms through administrative allocation instead of auctions, tensions between telecom and satcom companies have reportedly flared up again over the recent proposal by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to impose a four per cent adjusted gross revenue (AGR) charge on satellite spectrum.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, and Vodafone Idea, objected to the four per cent charge as being 'unjustifiably low' compared to spectrum charges for terrestrial networks. In a rebuttal, the Broadband India Forum (BIF), an industry association comprising Big Tech and satellite companies, said that the level-playing field argument was flawed and misrepresented.
On the new initiative enabling the technology transfer of Small Satellite Launch Vehicle (SSLVs) by the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) to commercial players, Goenka said that it was a clear example of the Indian government putting its money where its mouth is.
Earlier this month, fighter jet maker Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) won the first bid to commercialise the SSLV with the technology transfer set to take place over the next two years.
Goenka also revealed that final bids from startups and private companies to help build and maintain India's first earth observation (EO) constellation as well as satellite-bus-as-a-service (SBaaS) were set to come in over the next few weeks. 'These two initiatives will allow the private sector to enter the space industry with the help of the government, not just financially but also to demonstrate what they can do now,' he said.
The Rs 1,500 crore-EO satellite constellation project is aimed at gathering more geospatial data while the SBaaS initiative was launched by IN-SPACe to allow private players to design and build satellite buses where payloads and scientific instruments are typically held.
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