Computers Today, October 16-31, 1998, Telecom

October 16-31, 1998 TELECOM

Losing Out the Early Lead

Policy is one thing, but actual licence and the conditions of the licence is another.

T H Chowdary

Online: Who'll Bell the Copy Cat?

View Port: Montage from the Looking Glass

Till about 15 years ago, it was not possible to communicate to and from the public switched telephone network (PSTN) while on the move. Then came cellular mobile radio telephone which struck down limitations further. But there still remain lots of areas on the globe where there is no terrestrial network for mobile telephony.

Enter a satellite-based system known as Global Mobile Personal Communication System (GMPCS). Geo-stationery satellites like Inmarsat can support mobile phones but the telephones will have to be large in size and have large battery power because the satellites are at a height of 36,500 kms. Satellites in low earth orbits (LEOs), and medium earth orbits (MEOs) can support light hand-held phones with battery power lasting several hours. But, the lower the height of the orbit, the lesser the time for which a person can have coverage from a moving satellite.

Therefore, to give 24-hour coverage a string of satellites would be required. Iridium is the first GMPCS project. It has 66 LEO satellites, plus six as in-orbit spares. All these satellites have already been launched. They interconnect with the terrestrial PSTN through 12 Iridium gateways, one of which is in India, near Pune.

The project has been conceived and executed under the leadership of Motorola. Iridium India is going to offer the services. The service was launched last month. The Iridium system would provide 24 hours coverage to almost every point on the earth. Besides voice, it provides data communication at 2.4 Kbps. There is a proposal that the Andhra Pradesh Government buy a few million minutes of GMPCS from Iridium India. A few thousand hand-held mobile phones will be part of the deal. The Iridium phones will be used by personnel engaged in cyclone and flood relief work, by police, excise, and forest officers. Iridium obviates the need for up-front investments and maintenance and operating costs on terrestrial radio network (for police, etc.).

The Bureaucratic Tangle

India could have had the benefit of the service from last month but for the inexplicably inordinate delays by DOT in giving an operating licence to Iridium India Ltd. Various permissions have already been given to Iridium India to put up the India gateway. This gateway is to handle the traffic for all of South Asia minus Pakistan and also the Pacific region mainly, Australia and New Zealand. Because of the delays in giving the licence, all this traffic, stands to be diverted to the gateway in Thailand, instead of coming to India. That means great loss of foreign exchange. The Iridium project has also certain incentives for early completion of gateways. We stood to gain several hundreds of free Iridium phones and a few million minutes of free service as bonus for timely completion and operation.

The reason was the change of government and ministers and the characteristic over-caution, doubts and delays in the DOT which, in association with others, is overwhelmed by terms like "Security", "Foreign Operators", etc. At long last a policy of allowing GMPCS, which by its very naturedoes not belong to a particular country but is truly global, has been cleared on the initiative of Sushma Swaraj. Policy is one thing, but actual licence and the conditions of the licence in the hands of Iridium India, are another thing. The conditions should not be such as take away by the left hand that which has been given by the right hand, as in the case of all telecom services licences by DOT.

India is on an irrevocable path of globalisation, but the implementation of this policy is being done by a bureaucracy and political combination, which finds it impossible to get out of the permit-licence-quota raj mindset which arrogates to its national concerns to protect the "common man" and the nation's "security", while in practice, both are totally compromised.

The writer is ex-chairman, Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd.

Issue Contents Write to us Subscriptions Syndication