Government must consider subsidy for satcom providers: ISpA

Indian Space Association (ISpA), a newly-formed industry lobby group, has said that the Centre should consider a subsidy for satellite communication (satcom) providers through the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) to bridge the existing digital divide.

"The government is rolling out BharaNet that also has a cost to roll out," Jayant Patil, chairman at ISpA, told ET. "But the government looks at this as a national priority to be able to digitally connect people for education and health purposes in each village of the country. And if the government so feels, it would like to perhaps use the USOF subsidy to roll out the same connectivity using satellite... The aim of the government will remain the same."

ISpA, launched earlier this month, has among its early members Bharti Airtel, Tata group's Nelco, Bharti Group-backed OneWeb, Larsen & Toubro (L&T), Ananth Technologies and Mapmyindia.

USOF is a Rs 55,000-crore strong corpus, established in 2002, to offer widespread and non-discriminatory access to digital services to those living in the country's rural and remote areas. The corpus is created by contribution from telcos.

The BharatNet programme, funded by USOF, aims to connect more than 600,000 villages through optic-fibre cable to take high speed broadband to the hinterland.

"The USO already visualises the use of satellites for backhaul. For backhaul, we have been using satellites for some time," Patil said, adding that the government should now look at other areas, and there would be no need of deploying physical infrastructure.