Rishi Tejpal writes for ET Prime:
Connectivity providers across the globe have one key objective in mind — bridge the digital divide between urban and rural areas. And satellite-based connectivity is well positioned not only to help them solve this problem but also to provide connectivity in areas where it is otherwise not practically possible to build terrestrial networks.
Two terms are important – Geo-Stationary (GEO) and Low Earth Orbit (LEO). They depend on the distance from the surface of earth. Rishi doesn’t cover any details around the technical implementation (for example throughput) but highlights the progress made by One Web and Starlink. One web has British investments, while Elon Musk’s investment vehicle fuels StarLink. The numbe rof satellites are bound to increase.
Will this have a visible impact on improving access for telemedicine? A lot depends on fibre, customer premises equipment and some methodology to cross subsidise from enterprise payouts to end-consumers. This is a multi-million dollar reality but eventually will impact the delivery mechanisms for many economic sectors. I’ll be keeping a close watch on this.
RadOncNotes 