The Government of India has given 10 operational communication satellites to NewSpace India Limited(NSIL), a Government-run business, as part of reforms to the country’s space industry. The decision to give NSIL ownership of 10 GSAT series satellites will enable the corporation to rent them out (for transponder capacity, services, etc.) and make money off of them.
’10 (Ten) in-orbit operational communication satellites viz. GSAT8, GSAT-10, GSAT-12R (CMS-01), GSAT-14, GSAT-15, GSAT-16, GSAT-17, GSAT-18, GSAT-30 and GSAT-31 have been transferred from Government of India to M/s. New Space India Ltd (NSIL), a CPSE under the Department of Space, at a written down value of Rs.4697.60 crores(Rs.46.97billion) against the issue of equity to the Government of India, with 01.04.2021 as the effective date of transfer’ the Minister-in-Charge, Dr Jitendra Singh, shared in Parliament.
Accordingly, a customer might be assigned transponder capacity on the satellite in exchange for payment, bringing in money for the Indian government. Simply said, the capacity of the satellite is allocated to certain clients like telecommunications companies, broadcasters, etc. Similar to how an Internet service provider sells connections to families based on the speed restriction, data limit, etc.
In this instance, the Board of NSIL is permitted to set the transponder capacity pricing based on current market conditions. NSIL must follow the rules that its Board will eventually approve when it comes to offering and capacity allocation.
By engaging in such commercial endeavours, India hopes to increase its portion of the $440 billion global space economy. Notably, India’s portion of the aforementioned is thought to be less than 2%. The reforms being implemented in India’s space sector since 2020 are also intended to improve the same. In order to do this, the Department of Space, Government of India, established the Indian National Space Promotion & Authorization Centre (INSPACe), which serves as a single-window agency and seeks to level the playing field for private sector actors by promoting, guiding, and authorising their activities.
India’s private space businesses exclusively supplied parts and offered services to the government-run Indian Space Research Organization until the year 2020. (ISRO). However, the reforms are aimed at enabling private companies to build and launch their own rockets and satellites from Indian soil and provide allied services.
Dr. S. Somanath, Chairman of ISRO and Secretary of the Department of Space, said earlier when asked about the eagerly anticipated Space Policy that the internal review was over, the cabinet permission was pending, and the final approval might be anticipated very soon. He continued by saying that the goal of the Space Policy was to make it clear that the private sector was permitted to develop its own satellites and rockets. He said that the legislation was intended to give the Indian National Space Promotion and Authorization Center (IN-SPACe) more authority.
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