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“In 2017 there were 18 billion connected devices and this is expected to go up to 30 billion in the next four years,” said Gautam Sharma, MD, Inmarsat.
Addressing the sixth edition of Bengaluru Space Expo (BSX-2018) organised by the CII and ISRO, here on Friday, Sharma said: “Last year alone there were 150 billion app downloads, and in the next four years this is expected to grow to 300 billion.”
In the next four years, mobile data consumption is expected to be 75 exabyte from the current 11 exabyte leading to a rise in the digital economy and major changes in the digital ecosystem.
Critical role
Sharma said satellite companies will play a critical role in the emerging digital economy because of global coverage — four billion people are still to be connected; reliability — heterogonous networks that support requirements of a modern economy; and unique services — digital ecosystems such as precise navigation.
In his presentation, VL Shankar, Senior Vice- President, Reliance Jio, said Just two years ago India was one of the lowest data consuming countries in the world ranked at 150.
“However, today the country is one of the largest data consumers in the world, more than Europe and North America.”
He further said this is largely due to the penetration of smart phones in the country — currently India has 450 million smartphone users. The smartphone usage has shifted from voice to video-centric networks. In India there are more than 900 TV channels in 25 different languages.
“The average data consumption per person is around 10 GB per month. Smaller towns are recording the highest usage of data which is mainly video content,” said Shankar.
Inspiring loyalty
On 5G network, Shankar said it will lead to an explosion of data, 10,000 times more than the present consumption, with an estimated 30 billion connected devices. This, according to him, will pose a huge challenge for the satellite sector.
Satya Naryanaswamy, VP and Country Manager, VIASAT India, talking on in-flight connectivity, said studies have shown that passengers require the same Wi-Fi connectivity and experience whether on the ground, or in the air. Airlines that provide high-quality connectivity on-board are preferred by travellers.
According to him, solutions lie in driving bandwidth where it is required, that is, known areas of consumption as flights paths and travel routes are preset. It is here that geo-stationary satellites are best suited.
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