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India to lift curbs on global communication gadgets

The Union government will soon liberalise the restrictions on bandwidth and equipment used for the global mobile communication system, according to International Maritime Satellite Organisation regional director R K Gupta.

Participating in an interactive session with members of the Karnataka Chamber of Commerce in Bangalore on Monday, he said there were restrictions on small equipment like Inmarsat Mini-M (laptop), a fully digital global mobile satellite system available now.

However, Mini-M was approved for governmental, defence and state-owned agencies for operation. It had a great demand among private parties as it weighed only 2.2 kgs, its price was low, and it was easy to install and operate.

It had a built-in back up batteries supported for four hours of talk time and 24 hours in receive-only mode. Mini-M provided global connectivity from anywhere and it could be used during emergency and natural disasters. Its demand was good among business, travellers, journalists, diplomats, VVIP security agencies and aid workers as it could provide communcation in areas beyond the reach of cellular or fixed communication network.

Gupta said Inmarsat operated three types of services -- land mobile, maritime and aeronautical. Calls are beamed up to the satellite and sent down to earth, where special gateway land earth stations re-route them through appropriate local or international telephone network.

He said the government had recently made it mandatory for medium type ships with 300 tonnes dead weight and 12 feet in length. The order would come into force from February. After the deadline, no ship would be allowed to operate without an Inmarsat communication in the high seas.

UNI