Satellite broadband access, crucial to empowering a new India

According to the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), only around 121 million of 1.2 billion Indians are logged onto the Internet and, of these, only 2 per cent, or approximately 2.2 million rural Indians, have access to the Web.

Pakistan, in comparison, hovers around 31 million users (but as Pakistan's population is 187 million, the percentage is better than India's).

China, on the other hand, has 457 million broadband users (according to Chinese government-released data), which is more than the US, Mexico and Canada combined. While media reports wax eloquently about mobile broadband, the fact of the matter is that both 2G and 3G networks have been largely urban and semi-urban phenomenon as that is where the ARPUs are (and will remain for the foreseeable future if industry reports are any indication).

To put that in perspective, the Tata Institute of Social Sciences has pointed out that even today, around 18 per cent of rural Internet users walk over 10 km to access a Net connection. And the overall quality of the nation's connections remains among the poorest in the world. Akamai's ‘State of the Internet' report asserted that 35 per cent of India's connections are less than 256 kbps Recent figures from Pando Networks ranks India at 108th in the world, with an average connection speed of 184 kbps.

Heavily taxed

Given that it's no secret that India's telecom sector is among the world's most heavily taxed (compared with China, where the state charges only 3.5 per cent), it is safe to assume that had Indian telcos been less burdened, they might have had the capacity to address rural coverage more effectively.

And why just rural? Broadband coverage, even in urban India, remains the prerogative of a lucky few. Just drive down to Mumbai or Delhi suburbs (areas that ‘supposedly' fall within the broadband domain) and you will see what I mean. Enterprise owners in these areas are broadband subscribers but will often complain that the ‘guarantee' of a reliable and ‘always-on' network is anything but a guarantee.

Today, banks, e-governance platforms and the armed forces, in addition to government offices, stock-exchanges, cinema theatres, long-distance education service providers, SMEs and large enterprises, rely heavily on satellite broadband to fulfil that ‘ubiquitous, always-on, safe and reliable' promise!

According to a study by CII and the Government of India (Telecom Ministry) the contribution to the growth of national output in the form of labour productivity improvement of existing workforce due to ubiquitous broadband deployment in India will, it is estimated, be $50 billion for 2010-2020.

Interestingly, according to the US Department of Commerce, only 60 per cent of households in the rural areas use broadband Internet service (the figure is 70 per cent for urban areas). The US administration has given $7.2 billion in stimulus money toward the effort in the quality and availability of broadband access between rural and urban communities.

As the world embraces its digital age, the line dividing the two Indias becomes more broadly drawn. The fact remains that government initiatives are essential to speed up broadband deployment in India, since the current broadband penetration of 5 per cent is ridiculously low. The lack of infrastructure for fixed broadband access is one of the main reasons hampering the widespread use of broadband.

High throughput satellites

Countries across North America, Europe, West Asia, Africa and Australia are now deploying High Throughput Satellites (HTS) using the new Ka band to enable delivery of ubiquitous and affordable countrywide broadband applications. Due to their unique advantage of large coverage range, and independence from most terrestrial networks failures, satellites should be seen as strategic assets for ensuring seamless information flow.

Apart from the obvious benefits to the enterprise workforce, the immense opportunities to a more traditional workforce (farmers, rural artisans etc) are immense as wider and more convenient access may reduce the costs of communicating and transacting, in addition to support to agri-food, tourism, forestry, organized rural retail and other micro enterprise initiatives.

Healthcare, Defence

Additionally, reliable and consistent broadband connectivity is also critical to improve access to medical services, education, e-government and other services that are hard to find and expensive in remote communities. Satellite technology continues to support governments and businesses in their pursuit to provide a level playing field to communities.

Another vital area of relevance for satellite broadband is to meet the military's communications requirements for comprehensive, secure, net-centric airborne communications across multiple theatres.

If inclusive growth is India's goal, policy makers need to treat broadband connectivity as critical infrastructure, just like roads, airports and power to enable every citizen whether rural or urban to participate in — and benefit from — the global information revolution and contribute to the balanced and sustained growth of India.

(The author is President, Hughes Network Systems India Ltd.)

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