Satellite 'magic bullet' to connect the unconnected opportunity to cover areas left out Mittal

     New Delhi, Oct 21 (PTI) Satellite communications is a "magic bullet" to cover dark unconnected areas, Bharti Group Chairman Sunil Mittal said on Monday, adding that players now have a great new opportunity to leverage satellite connectivity to cover remote areas that have so far been left out.
     Speaking at the NDTV World Summit, Mittal said that nearly two billion people in the world are still not connected to the internet, and in the Indian context too there are areas -- large swathes of desert, forests, coastlines -- where neither mobile networks nor fibre are feasible.
     "For those areas, you need satellite communications, and that, to my mind, offers now a great source of new opportunities for us, mobile operators, or telecom operators, to put that in a mix and start to cover areas which are still left behind," Mittal said.
     About 5 per cent of India's population sans internet connectivity lives in 25 per cent of the area, he said, emphasising that satellite is the only solution for them.
     "India provides a very high quality signal to 95 per cent of its population, but there are still five per cent of people who do not get internet in the country, and they live in 25 per cent of the area of the country. So it's a very large area with a very small population, the only way to cover that is satellite," Mittal said.
     Mittal said that two ground stations in Mehsana (Gujarat) and in Pondicherry are in a state of preparedness and ready to start services.
     "The day government gives us the permission, there will not be a single square inch of this country which will not have radio coverage. So you just need to raise your hand and be connected," he said.
     Mittal said he is of the view that satellite is truly a "magic bullet" to cover the dark areas, and noted that about 2 billion people in the world are still not connected to internet, including in advanced countries like the US.
     The telecom stalwart's comments assume significance as billionaire Elon Musk and Indian tycoons Mukesh Ambani and Mittal are locked in a standoff over satellite spectrum, and nuances of its allocation in India.
     While Ambani's Reliance Jio has been vocal about the need to allocate such spectrum through an auction to give a level-playing field to legacy operators who buy airwaves and set up infrastructure like telecom towers, Mittal during India Mobile Congress held last week articulated the need for satellite companies harbouring any urban ambitions to buy spectrum as telecom companies do.
     Musk-led Starlink is demanding administrative allotment of licences in line with the global trend as it looks to tap into the world's fastest-growing mobile telephony and internet market. This has found some backing in Telecom Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia, who said recently that such airwaves will be given out through administrative allocation at a cost, but not auctioned.
    Mittal on Monday further said India is getting the manufacturing story right.
    "The PLI production incentive is a huge boost for the manufacturing sector and the trusted products and services and networks, where India is saying anything that goes into the digital networks must be trusted. That is forcing a lot of companies to come and manufacture here in this country," Mittal said.
    He noted that contrary to some perceptions, large Indian private sector companies are making substantial investments - having recognised that consumption in the country is set to rise.
    Bharti Airtel itself is infusing substantial investments into digital infrastructure every year, including in towers and fibre. A similar trend can be seen in companies across sectors like cement, steel, automobiles, and new industries.
    Mittal drew attention to problems that telecom companies face in setting up towers in some locations, especially in Lutyens' Delhi, and said the local bodies need to be sensitised.
    Bharti Airtel top boss also highlighted that Indian mobile subscribers enjoy tariffs which are far lower compared to their US counterparts.
    "We are significantly superior than Europe, the UK, the US, better than the African continent. We are behind Japan, Singapore, Dubai, and maybe certainly South Korea. These are, to my mind, role models where the quality of mobile networks is very superior," he said.
    Mittal believes that ARPUs that settled at USD 2.5 after the tariff hikes, should ideally move up to USD 5 over a period of time.
    "Ideally USD 5 not 50 or 100...But that is where we need to get to...to buy more spectrum, put more investment in infrastructure...The wonderful DPI that our Prime Minister spoke about today is truly a gift to every citizen of this nation, and hopefully it can be lifted and shifted to Africa and other developing countries," he said and observed that UPI and Aadhaar-based identification along with the other elements of India stack are together "creating wonderful magic".
    "We really need to create a first-rate infrastructure here, continue to invest in it, and if that means crowdsourcing another USD 0.5 or USD 1 from each customer in the country, trust me it's worth it, because we will build the same networks, as you see in Japan and Singapore, right here in this country," he said.
    The current ARPUs are lower than the 2016 levels, he pointed out.
    "...add to that inflation of electricity, fuel prices, compensation, salaries, just basically cost of running any business...We have not even caught up with the inflation...We have been going back in our tariffs, and so coming back a little bit at some point in time will be valid...very valid," he said.

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)