Satellite communication service provider OneWeb’s executive chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal on Sunday told PTI that it will be able to match mobile services rates of western countries but its prices can't be at par with the "extremely low" tariff in India.
Mittal while sharing details of OneWeb launch and services said that the services will be affordable and at par with that of mobile rates if a community of 30-40 homes in a village use it.
However, the services will cost more for individual use in India compared to existing mobile services plans.
"If you ask me, can the pricing of satellite communication be at par with mobile tariffs? Whatever is currently available in the Western world, it can be done today. What is available in India for 2 and 2.5 dollars a month? No, because that is a pricing which is extremely low," Mittal said.
ISRO launches 36 OneWeb satellites
On Sunday, OneWeb constellation took the total count of its constellation to 618 satellites with the launch of 36 Low Earth Orbit (LEO) satellites by NewSpace India Limited (NSIL).
Indian Space Research Organization's Launch Vehicle Mark-3 (LVM3) placed 36 OneWeb satellites in a low earth orbit following a successful launch from the Satish Dhawan Space Centre at Sriharikota.
Pricing
Talking about affordability, Mittal said that some of the government's overseas have deployed universal services obligation funds to bring down the cost of satellite broadband services for their citizens.
He said that the launch will bring high-speed equivalent to 4G plus or 5G services for in-flight and maritime services.
Mittal told PTI, "80 per cent of the bandwidth has already been contracted globally. We now have USD 800-900 million of contracts across the globe now. Our pricing is very competitive in the satellite segment."
Russia-Ukraine was a setback
When talking about the company's presence on the global level Mittal said that the company is operational now in most countries in the northern hemisphere and regretted the exit of Russia from OneWeb business map.
"We had a big setback with the Russia-Ukraine war. Six launches that were fully paid for were taken out. Not only OneWeb has been struggling to get money back, it lost 36 satellites," Mittal said.
India serious player in space industry
He also feels that India has emerged as one of the serious players in the space industry.
"There are only very few options left. SpaceX is one of the companies but you know they're also our competitors. But I'm glad they stepped up to give us three rockets. But importantly, I think the prime minister of India recognised the moment and directed the entire space ecosystem in India to step up and give two rockets to OneWeb, that to my mind has been a game changer for us," Mittal said.
He said that the launch marks a very important day for India where ISRO and NCIL have established themselves as a serious significant player in the commercial space launch industry in the world.
He said that each launch in India cost around Rs 500 crore.
He also added that OneWeb has a global capacity of 1.1 TBPS of which 11 GBPS is dedicated for India.
Satellite spectrum
While OneWeb has the permit for satellite services launch, it needs to wait till Spacecom Policy is in place and spectrum is allocated to the company for transmitting signals.
Mittal said that the spectrum for satellites is a shared resource and globally it has been allocated without auction.
"I personally don't feel that India will go away from the global practices," Mittal said.
Manufacture terminals in India
He said that OneWeb is in discussion with companies to manufacture user satellite terminals in India.
"India will become a destination to manufacture these terminals because Chinese terminals are unlikely to be manufactured in most parts of the world," Mittal said.
Combining with telecom operator
The Bharti group founder also said that he expects all permission required for services launch in India to be in place by July-August and the company will sell the service through partners instead of selling it directly.
"We will not be going to the end customers. I am not going to fight with Airtel, Jio, Vodafone or any telecom operator globally. We are combining with them," Mittal said.
He said that the company has had discussions with Indian armed forces, navy and everyone is waiting for the services.
"The Airtel enterprise wing will be selling these services to enterprise customers. Our joint venture with Hughes will be the primary source of sales into the rest of the market including government, defense," Mittal said.
Indian Space Association Director General A K Bhatt said that the completion of the last leg of the first-generation LEO constellation of 600 satellites by Bharti-backed OneWeb has set a significant benchmark for the entire Indian space industry in downstream application of satellite communication in India.
"This will surely aid in addressing the issue of low fixed broadband penetration and bridge the digital divide in the country's most remote areas. We are excited about the potential it holds and the positive impact it will have on our nation's aspirations for digital transformation," Bhatt said.
With inputs from PTI
