Telecom panel approves licence for setting satellite earth station gateways

The Digital Communications Commission, formerly Telecom Commission, on Thursday approved issuance of separate licence for satellite earth station gateways that connect space communications with land-based networks, an official source said.

The Satellite Earth Station Gateway (SESG) permit holders will not provide any service directly to end customers and be levied a non-refundable one-time entry fee of Rs 10 lakh.

"DCC has approved Trai recommendation of Satellite Earth Station Gateway," the source said.

The SESG licence holder will be allowed to set up several SESGs to cater to the requirement of constellation based satellite service providers but would need to obtain separate permission from the DoT before installing each SESG.

The SESG licence shall be valid for a period of 20 years from the effective date of the licence with a provision of renewal for 10 years.

At present, the DoT is the licensing authority for telecommunication services, while the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) is the licensing authority for broadcasting services in the country.