The State-run telecom organization BSNL is planning to roll out Satellite Phone service to all the citizens soon. The service can work at any corner and also during the natural calamities. The chairman of the BSNL shared that the talks with the International Maritime Organization is going on. The process will take some time and in coming months the telecom organization will be in a position to open satellite service to all the citizens.




BSNL will be able to provide uninterrupted network services to all the citizens. Satellite Phones will work in any part of the country whether it is in a flight or a ship depending on the signals directly from the satellites located about 35,700km above the earth. Generally the mobile networks cover around 20-30km towers and can transmit signals to phones placed equal to or below the height of the tower.

The telecom organization has started using INMARSAT service which will be initially offered to the agencies handling disasters, railways, state police, BSF and other government executives and then to the citizens. Call rates on satellite phones are expected to be Rs. 30-35 in the first phase when there are only about 4,000 connections in the country.




Satellite phones in India are presently provided by Tata Communications, which inherited the licence from Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (now Tata Communications Ltd). The services of TCL will be phased out by June 30, 2017 and all the connections will be transferred to BSNL. There are 1,500 authorised satellite phone connections that can operate within the country and a majority of them are used by security forces. TCL has also issued 4,143 permits to maritime community for use of such phones at ships.

There have been security concerns on use of satellite phones in India. Defence forces did not opt for satellite phones from the foreign operators because of security and espionage concerns.

Other security agencies have been demanding for a long time for establishment of a new gateway in the country which can support new generation handsets for land mobile connections.