India wants rid of ‘private’ satellites
July 25, 2018
By Chris Forrester
India’s Department of Space along with its satellite development arm, India Space Research Organisation (ISRO) are both looking to persuade DTH broadcasters to shift their contracts from non-Indian satellite operators to Indian-managed spacecraft.
Currently, international operators such as SES supply considerable satellite capacity targeting Indian DTH viewers.
Rajya Sabha, a minister of state in the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore said, “Department of Space/ISRO is initiating efforts to migrate DTH services from foreign satellites to Indian satellites.”
Sabha said that India’s DTH operators are using 42 transponders aboard India-owned satellites and about 67 transponders leased from “foreign” satellites. ANTRIX Corporation, the commercial division of ISRO, is responsible for allocating transponder capacity for India’s DTH broadcasters.
In December last year the Ministry of Broadcasting had told broadcasters that if their contracts with foreign operators were coming up for renewal then the subsequent renewals should be with India satellites.
Sabha is already on record as saying that over the next three years, extra Indian-owned capacity would come on stream.