Startups like Dhruva Space Pvt Ltd and Avantel Ltd wrote to the government for a separate license for ground station as a service (GSaaS) in India.

Dhruva Space said that a separate license will enable a desirable regulatory framework, while Avantel said that a licensing policy will help address cost concerns for the space economy.

A ground station is a physical point on earth that sends signals to the satellite whereas GSaaS is a service that allows companies to rent such stations and avoid investing in separate infrastructure.

This means that a GSaaS license can provide critical ground support and real-time satellite communication and control at a much cheaper cost to the company.

This greatly benefits startups and small players who do not have the means to set up their own ground stations. So far, Dhruva Space and Avantel are the only private players in India to have received such authorisation.

Yet this call for a separate license is in complete contrast to the Satcom Industry Association India’s (SIA India) stand. According to industry body representing major satellite service providers and startups, “GsaaS is mainly for data collection purposes. Building a vast net of ground stations involves huge capital and as a result of the high upfront investment sustaining the services may not be economically viable. In such a scenario, since IN-SPACe is regulating GSaaS, a separate authorization is redundant and not necessary.” It may be noted that both Dhruva Space and Avantel are members of SIA India.

Other industry bodies like the Broadband India Forum (BIF) echoed this take stating that such a framework will hinder “increasing private participation in the sector.”

However, Avantel argued that by not having a GSaaS policy, India is in fact missing out on the opportunity of GSaaS business models.

“There are about 18 GSaaS providers world-wide, whose list is growing by the day and they have their ground stations proliferated globally. However, since there is no GSaaS policy / players in India, commercial ground station services are not being offered from the Indian region resulting in not meeting global customer requirements for real-time data / satellite TT & C connecvity over Indian region,” said Avantel.

Meanwhile, Dhruva Space wrote that the current licenses do not adequately address the scope of GSaaS, “The standards developed by TEC (Telecommunications Engineering Center), the financial and technical conditions under existing licenses issued by DoT and MIB are aligned with the notion that the licensed network is used for processing communication and broadcasting services. However in case of GSaaS, the said considerations would not apply as both – Nature of Data and Service to End User are not of the nature which align with service licenses given by DoT and MIB,” it said.

The company said that the GSaaS license can allow any authorized Indian or foreign satellite operator to downlink any data provided by their satellites and host the equipment of any authorized Indian or Foreign satellite operator. Further, Dhruva said that the GSaaS licensee should be able to obtain spectrum assignment on behalf of the satellite operator.