Unleash market forces to realise full potential of SatCom: TRAI chief

Telecom and broadcasting regulator TRAI on Thursday advocated the need to unleash market forces to realise the massive potential of satellite communications and technologies in India, and said regulatory disadvantages need to be “ironed out”.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman RS Sharma rued that cost of data in India delivered via satellite technology was 400 times higher than that in the US, presenting a stark contrast to telecom and mobile services domain where India is offering one of the cheapest tariffs in the world.

Sharma asserted that the ‘open sky policy’ needs to be implemented in “letter and spirit” to unleash the full potential of satellite technologies.

“The reason is not inefficiency of technology…the reason is that we have probably not allowed unleashing of market forces or not allowed to implement the open sky policy which was part of earlier telecom policy and also a part of the National Digital Communications Policy.