Mobile telephony may get cheaper, courtesy ISRO

Hyderabad, September 25: In a bid to make mobile telephony cheaper and accessible even to the remotest part of the country, Indian Space Research Oraganisation is planning to launch a satellite that will provide direct link to the mobile phone handsets.

A new satellite, which the space agency plans to launch in the next three years, will be able to provide direct satellite communication link to mobile phone handsets – a technology that will work on the lines of the direct-to-home (DTH) technology.

"We plan to provide satellite connectivity using a special bandwidth," ISRO Chairman G Madhavan Nair told space agency chiefs attending the 58th International Astronautical Congress (IAC) on Monday evening.

He said the ISRO was designing an experimental satellite -- GSAT-6 -- for the purpose, which it plans to launch in the next three years.

"It will make access cheaper with connectivity even in remote areas," he said.