Suffering from slow internet speed? ISRO to come to your rescue

Thanks to the ISRO, Indians will soon going to experience high-speed internet connectivity.

New Delhi, May 22: At a time when Prime Minister Narendra Modi is prompting Digital India, one of his pet projects to provide internet connectivity to one and all, slow internet speed is causing great discomfort to users across the country.

However, the latest plans of India's space agency-- Indian Space Research Organisation--to launch a couple of satellites in the near future is going to provide us with high-speed internet experience.

According to reports in the next 18 months the ISRO is going to launch three communication satellites to usher in an age of high-speed internet in the country.

Speaking to Times of India, ISRO chairman Kiran Kumar said, "We will launch three communication satellites. GSAT-19 in June and GSAT-11 and GSAT-20 thereafter. GSAT-19 will be launched by GSLVMk III, Isro's next-generation launch vehicle boosted by an indigenous cryogenic engine that is capable of carrying a four-tonne satellite to the geosynchronous transfer orbit."

He added, "These satellites will use multiple spot beams (a special kind of transponder that operates on a high frequency) that will increase internet speed and connectivity. These multiple spot beams will cover the entire country."

Although India has the second largest internet user base in the world, slow internet speed has become a thorn in making the country truly digital. China has the world's largest internet user base.

The number of internet users in the country is expected to reach 450-465 million by June, up 4-8 per cent from 432 million in December 2016, according to a report from the Internet and Mobile Association of India.

However, India, with just 4.1 Mbps average connection speed, ranked a poor 105th on the world's fastest internet connectivity speed list, said a report by a US-based cloud service provider.

Tapan Misra, director of Ahmedabad-based Space Application Centre, told Times of India, "These new satellites, once operational, will be capable of providing high-quality internet, phone and video services."

Misra added the effective data rate of earlier-launched GSAT satellites is one gigabyte per second. GSAT-19, on the other hand, will be able to transfer data at four gigabytes per second, thus making it equivalent to four satellites. This satellite will use eight beams.

"GSAT-11, which is heavier than GSAT-19, will be launched by the year-end and will use 16 beams. It will be able to transfer data at the rate of 13 gigabytes per second. GSAT-20, whose launch is set at the end of 2018, will use 40 beams. Each beam will have two polarisations, which will effectively make them 80 beams. This satellite will have data rate of 60-70 gigabytes/sec," he added.

OneIndia News