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Confident satcom rollout will be fastest in India: Telecom Minister
India will see the fastest global rollout so far for satellite communication, Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said on Tuesday. This would expand the satcom market in India to $20 billion by 2028, ten times larger than the current $2.3 billion, he said.
Addressing a seminar at the headquarters of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Scindia said satellite telecom technology is complementary to the existing bouquet of services. The minister's comments came on a day when Elon Musk's Starlink announced the launch of telecom services in neighbouring Bangladesh.
While the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has cleared Starlink's application for satellite communication services in India, the company still needs to secure IN-SPACe clearance in record time if it wants to roll out signals alongside others, industry insiders say. Its competitor Airtel-backed Eutelsat OneWeb received a GMPCS licence effective from August 2021, while Jio Satellite Communication Ltd has held it since March 2022.
The minister said the DoT is studying the recommendations made on the allocation of space spectrum, which were released earlier this month. These mandate that operators pay 4 per cent of their annual Adjusted Gross Revenue (AGR) as spectrum usage charges (SUC) to offer services in India. The spectrum is to be assigned for five years, extendable by an additional two years. These and other key recommendations are expected to be presented to the Cabinet for approval soon, TRAI officials have said.
A KPMG report has pointed out that India ranks fourth globally in terms of investments in the sector. Nearly $2 billion was invested in 110 firms locally, it said last year.
Instead, Scindia asked telecom operators to focus on quality of service (QoS). 'It's important to make sure we have the largest or second-largest market in the world, but it also must be defined on the parameter of highest QoS. It is my sincere hope that all our telco providers will move up the value chain of QoS, not up to international benchmarks but beyond that,' he said.
The 5G rollout in India has been the fastest in the world, covering 99 per cent of districts and 82 per cent of the population in 22 months, Scindia stressed.
Arguing that the DoT has focused on performance, transparency and accountability, the minister said the Sanchar Sathi mobile app has resulted in 3.4 crore fake mobile connections being disconnected, and 30 lakh phones being blocked in the last 11 months. Meanwhile, it has ensured that 17 lakh stolen phones have been recovered, a 97 per cent reduction in international spoofed calls has been achieved, and an AI-enabled telecom monitoring system has given confidence to users.
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Mint
2 hours ago
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Telcos breathe easy as DoT blocks Trai's bank guarantee demand
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The official added that TDSAT had earlier scheduled to hear the matter on 25 June, which was postponed. Queries emailed to Trai, COAI and DoT on Tuesday did not elicit any response till the press time. 'Although curbing spam and maintaining quality of services is important, the government cannot invoke bank guarantees for such issues especially when the total bank guarantees compared to the dues of telecom operators is significantly low,' a second official said, adding that Trai should first use the means available with it. Telcos owe the government dues worth around ₹ 4 trillion linked to adjusted gross revenue (AGR) and spectrum fees. The development also points to a broader disagreement between DoT and the Trai regarding their respective roles and jurisdiction in telecom governance. Trai has also proposed that DoT should allow it to have its own pool of bank guarantees, so as to encash it when telecom operators refuse to pay penalties, the first official said. 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