Trai releases consultation paper on satellite gateway authorisations

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has brought out a consultation paper on network authorisations, asking the industry whether a separate authorisation is needed for satellite communication (satcom) services, especially for Satellite Earth Station Gateways (SESG).

The paper was brought out after the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) asked Trai earlier this month to consider a separate authorisation for satcom. Interestingly, Trai had last month proposed a new authorisation called “Satellite-based Telecommunication Service Authorisation” for commercial satellite services, merging the erstwhile VSAT-CUG service and GMPCS licences.