The Hindu Business Line : VSAT licence of HFCL cancelled

THE Department of Telecom has cancelled the VSAT (Very Small Aperture Terminals) licence held by Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd due to non-payment of dues.

HFCL, which also provides unified access services in Punjab circle, was struggling to make a dent into the VSAT segment with only 64 subscribers.

While HFCL sources admitted that the licence has been cancelled, no reasons were given.

In another move, RPG Satellite Communication has surrendered its VSAT licence. The company also could not make inroads into the VSAT market and had 75 subscribers. DoT had earlier cancelled the licence of ILD operator Data Access and mobile operator Koshika Telecom for non-payment of dues.

With this, the VSAT market is left with 4 large players controlling more than 90 per cent of the market share. The biggest player is HCL Comnet with 13,452 subscribers, amounting to 35 per cent of the total subscriber base.

The second largest player is Hughes with 12,012 subscribers accounting for 31 per cent of the total user base. Comsat and Bharti account for nearly 26 per cent of the market share with 4,453 and 5,581 users respectively.

Others such as ITI, Essel Shyam, Tata and Telstra together account for 10 per cent of the user base, but most of these companies have reported a decline in subscriber base.

VSAT is used by large corporate to connect their branch offices across the country through satellite. It involves installing a series of small dish on the customer's premises. The service is useful especially for those offices located in remote places where fixed line telephone cannot reach. FMCG companies are the biggest users of the technology.

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
VSNL dial-up Net subscriber base drops 24 pc

VSAT licence of HFCL cancelled

Tricom Q4 net up

CMC, TCS script joint growth plan

Ness Tech bags BridgeCo deal

eInfochips plans to double headcount

Redknee scouting for buys here

QuEST, Smiths Aerospace in pact

Piracy up at 73 pc