The Hindu Business Line : VSAT providers seek direct satellite access

The operators said that they were prepared to take whatever reasonable security-related measures the Government may require of them to be allowed to negotiate directly with foreign satellites.

Mumbai , Feb. 8

VSAT-BASED operations in the country, such as BSE and NSE member terminal networks, ATM networks of banks, corporate ERP networks, and some rural connectivity networks, are unrealistically expensive on account of artificially high satellite space costs, according to the VSAT Services Association of India (VSAI).

VSAT providers are constrained in that they can buy transponder space on foreign satellites only through ISRO, Department of Science, for reasons of security.

VSAT providers say that the Government contracted satellite capacity three years back at rates that are now far higher than prices in the open market, which are continuing their journey southwards.

Foreign satellites not only give VSAT operators bulk discounts but are also prepared to partner with the operators so that deferred payments are possible, according to Mr B.G. Bhalla, Secretary-General, VSAI.

ISRO's three-year contract for space with satellite GE 1A expires by the middle of calendar year 2004, and VSAI is trying its best to persuade the Government to allow it some concessions before ISRO goes ahead with its subsequent tender for contracting international satellite space.

"Only we are forced to access foreign satellites through an indirect route," said Mr Sudipta Sen, Managing Director of V-SAT service provider, Comsat Max.

"In contrast, ISPs are allowed to access any satellite which has a footprint over India; broadcasters too, including Doordarshan, are allowed to uplink on C-band from any satellite, whether INSAT or foreign."

For instance, Data Access, an ISP and international long-distance service provider, has contracted international capacity with a foreign satellite.

Satellite costs account for around 2O per cent of input costs for VSAT operators. And, foreign satellite space from the open market, although more expensive than INSAT satellite space - but less expensive than ISRO-contracted foreign space - offers more power, allowing VSAT operators to cut down on hardware costs, said Mr Bhalla.

"We can use smaller antennae and more compact equipment. Since there is a larger number of foreign satellites whose footprint covers India, we get big advantages from price negotiation - we can get bulk discounts or buy in chunks so that we can be more dynamic about choosing satellites," said a senior executive with a VSAT operator.

VSAT operators said that they were prepared to take whatever reasonable security-related measures the Government may require of them if they are allowed to negotiate directly with foreign satellites.

For example, broadcasters accessing foreign satellites are required to provide necessary monitoring facilities at their cost and also maintain a record of uplinked data of the past 90 days. "This is quite understandable," Mr Bhalla said.

According to VSAI, some 33,000 VSATs are in service in the country today of which 70 per cent are in the service sector; the rest, such as intracorporate networks, are in the captive sector.

VSATs are also used by providers of distance education, online lottery, and disaster recovery services.

They are used to supplement the networks of basic telephony, mobile telephony and Internet access providers in remote or rural areas where wireline or fibre would prove too expensive.

A Government source said: "The nature of VSAT operations is different from that of other satellite space users. Many critical operations run on VSAT networks."

But he did not elaborate.

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