Voice&Data Talkies #1: P.J. Nath, MD & CEO, Nelco

The Indian satcom industry has seen a rapid rise over the past few years, promising nationwide connectivity. Among the many players, Nelco Limited comes as one of the only two companies with Indian roots. Owned by Tata Sons, Nelco recently entered the Indian satcom space with a deal with Telesat, a US-based satcom operator.

Leading the charge at Nelco for the last decade is P.J. Nath, the MD and CEO. Nath comes with a rich experience in connectivity and satcom, having held the position of Senior Vice-President at Tata Communications before. He has also been in key roles at Sify Technologies Limited.

Talking with Voice&Data, Nath spoke about the recent phenomenon of LEO satellites-powered satcom networks, what the Indian satcom market can achieve over the next few years. He also shared Nelco's plans for the same.

Q. India’s satcom space has become a highly competitive space, with companies and nations alike competing for early market capture. How does Nelco plan to compete?

Nelco is serving industry leaders in most of the major segments of the Enterprise market. The Company serves both Aero IFC and Maritime communication services in India and has partnered with multiple global players to enhance its offerings and reach. Nelco serves international vessels coming into Indian waters as well as vessels belonging to Indian shipping companies. Similarly, it enables many of the international aircrafts which are flying over India to provide Wi-Fi onboard the aircrafts and hopes to offer similar services for the domestic aviation sector in near future.

Nelco has adopted the strategy of being technology agnostic and operates multiple technology platforms to offer most optimal solutions for the varying needs of its wide customer base. Considering this, Nelco has crafted its strategy to access satellites in various orbits. It plans to offer services using LEO satellites soon, apart from offering services using the Geostationary satellites - wide-beam as well as High Throughput Satellites (HTS).

With the satellite technology revolution taking place, coupled with the likely opening up of the regulations for the Space sector in the country, Nelco is poised for significant growth and leadership in key segments in the coming years.

Q. Nelco’s primary competitors, Starlink and OneWeb, both have larger constellations than your 298. How will Nelco and Telesat ensure global coverage?

The Telesat Lightspeed network was designed specifically for commercial (B2B) enterprise connectivity requirements. It is initially comprised of 298 advanced satellites in a unique orbital configuration that provides 100% coverage of the Earth.

The number of LEO satellites needed for global coverage of Earth depends on satellite altitude (km above earth), distribution of satellites in space and user field of view. Telesat satellites operate at a higher altitude (~1,000 km vs SpaceX’ ~500km), are more optimally distributed in a patent pending design and have a larger user field of view, all resulting in fewer Lightspeed satellites needed for full global coverage.

Further, each Telesat Lightspeed satellite at over 700 Kg each, about triple the size of competing LEO broadband satellites has advanced technologies incorporated. Each satellite delivers very high capacity, and the constellation delivers a total of 15 Tbps – that is more capacity than what is available in all Geostationary satellites in orbit today! Additionally, Telesat Lightspeed satellites have a 10–12-year design life, about double that of competing LEO satellites. Coupled with the factors above the network has a superior unit cost economics.

With the unique orbital design and higher capacity satellites, Telesat is launching the right number of satellites to address the market need. As demand scales over time, Telesat can expand the constellation and has already filed for an expansion to up to 1,671 satellites with the FCC.

Q. What are some of the technological innovations that Nelco and Telesat are looking to implement in Lightspeed?

Telesat Lightspeed satellites incorporate leading-edge technologies and features.

First, it has sophisticated phased array antennas on each satellite that are combined with advanced beam hopping technology to create approximately 135,000 beams that can dynamically focus multiple Gbps of capacity – an order of magnitude higher than any other system - into demand hot spots like remote communities, large airports or major seaports.

Next, there are nearly 1,200 high-capacity optical links – four on each satellite – that combine to create a first-ever, highly resilient, flexible and secure space-based IP network, moving data across the network and around the world at the speed of light.

Also, the constellation allows for data processing in space, including full digital modulation and demodulation on the satellite, coupled with a revolutionary end-to-end network operating system, that improves link performance and gives customers unprecedented flexibility for routing traffic across the globe, eliminating gateway hops for the fastest, most secure, end-to-end delivery of data.

Lastly, there is a unique architecture for the constellation of satellites, which features satellites operating in both polar and inclined orbital planes. This results in true pole-to-pole global coverage, concentrating capacity in areas where it is most needed to maximize network efficiency and achieve superior unit cost economics.

Q. Since Nelco’s focus will be on enterprise, particularly on telecom, how big of an opportunity satcom is in the telecom space?

Due to the vast market size, and growing internet market, India has become the center stage for global players to launch high speed, low latency satellite broadband services. There is also a huge digital divide that exists in the country and Satcom has the potential to bridge and connect the unconnected. As a result, Satcom services will enable everyone to come under the ambit of internet services.

Nelco currently provides Satcom services for the Enterprises as well as for Aero IFC and Maritime communication. Currently the services are provided using the Geostationary satellites. There are a lot of developments taking place in the Geostationary satellites, due to which services using these satellites will continue to grow globally as well as in India. Nelco is well poised to take advantage of such developments and expand its market.

With the availability of LEO satellites in the country in the near future, the Satcom market will further grow and very significantly. The LEO satellite will open up newer and very large opportunities due to the low latency it offers which are comparable with latencies using fiber. LEO also offers very large capacities and lower price points. Nelco sees large opportunities in the Enterprise market including the Telecom sector with LEO satellites and gearing itself to take advantage of such developments.

The transformational developments in Satcom will bring in new use cases not only for connectivity within India but also beyond the country in various domains, be it low-bit data/high speed data/voice/video etc.  LEO will help government to take the benefit of its various schemes to reach every corner of the country by enabling high speed internet.  New developments will put satcom in the center of the stage, along with the terrestrial networks.

As such there is a large market opportunity for Satcom services in the B2B sector.

Q. Since 5G is right around the corner in India, and Nelco’s target being providing satellite backhaul, how important is the timing of the 5G rollout for the success of your enterprise?

We will provide Satellite backhaul even without the 5G rollout taking place, as in many parts of the country the best medium for reliable connectivity continues to be Satcom. It is however also true that Satcom will play a significant role in 5G. As Satcom integrates into emerging technology standards, it will become increasingly more mainstream. In addition, it will continue to play a role as a complementary solution for connectivity in rural areas, disaster management, and ubiquitous coverage. As enhancements in Satcom take place, they will go a long way in delivering an improved user experience as well as provide added utilities and convenience for consumers. Furthermore, satcom will help support a resilient 5G network to mitigate problems related to congestion in terrestrial networks.

Q. Will Nelco and Telesat look to offer B2C connectivity services in the future as well?

Nelco’s purpose is to bring the benefits of the digital revolution to unserved and under-served customers.  We are currently focused on serving B2B Enterprise markets. However, we are open to explore any unserved and potential markets for satellite communication services in the future.

Q. How do you see the satcom market develop over the coming decade or so? Will it be able to deliver the promise of total connectivity that it holds?

The Satcom market is growing rapidly across the globe and the trend will continue in the coming decade. This is happening due to the rapidly evolving technologies and innovations taking place. The Satcom market in India is also poised to develop at a similar pace. Apart from the global technology innovations, there is also a lot of development taking place indigenously in the country. The regulatory framework pertaining to Satcom is also changing, which will give a further boost to the sector. India has a difficult terrain with large part of its geography in remote locations, where Satcom becomes the most important medium of offering total connectivity. Considering all these factors, the Satcom market in the country will develop and growth significantly in the coming decade. Moreover, Satcom will increasingly be able to provide the total connectivity solutions due to the technology innovations.