What Went Wrong With S-Band At ISRO?
The S band is currently making headlines in India! One of India’s prestigious Organizations, Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) is in middle of the controversy. There are speculations that this scam is even bigger than the 2G spectrum scandal that rocked the nation (and the Government!). While all these things under investigation, let’s take a look at what this S band is, and why it is so valuable!
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As per the IEEE standards, the S band is the part of frequency spectrum ranging between 2GHz to 4 GHz. It’s the part of Microwave band of Electromagnetic spectrum.
Mostly, this band range is used for satellite communication, like communicating with the space shuttle or the International Space centre. The communication with geo-stationary satellites launched by ISRO, like INSAT-2A, INSAT-2B is done in the S band.
In some countries, some frequency range of the S band is being used for Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television. But with the upcoming and ever growing mobile broadband service, the S band becomes immensely valuable in terms of usage as well as money. The frequency, also known as 2.5 GHz band, is globally used for providing mobile broadband services using fourth generation (4G) technologies such as WiMax and Long Term Evolution (LTE).
This frequency band is unique because it has substantial amount of spectrum (about 190 MHz) that can be put to use for mobile users. The other spectrum bands up to 3.5 GHz are either include very small amount of spectrum or are unavailable for mobile service.
The band range being so precious, many countries are putting it up for auction and making billions of dollars. In India, Twenty MHz (out of the 190MHz) was recently given to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd for offering broadband spectrum. BSNL and MTNL were asked to pay Rs. 12,847 crore for their 20MHz. ( As per reports, the controversial Devas is getting access to 70 MHz in the same band for just over Rs. 1,000 crore)
Harmonious Usage
· The usability of this 2.5GHz band being used for mobile services essentially depends on how harmonious it is with the global usage.
· That is because if the same band is used everywhere, then the mobile manufacturing companies can focus on manufacturing devices compatible with this specific radio frequency.
· If all the countries have their own plan for using spectrum, then telecom networks and devices would become very complex and expensive.
As per the IEEE standards, the S band is the part of frequency spectrum ranging between 2GHz to 4 GHz. It’s the part of Microwave band of Electromagnetic spectrum.Mostly, this band range is used for satellite communication, like communicating with the space shuttle or the International Space centre. The communication with geo-stationary satellites launched by ISRO, like INSAT-2A, INSAT-2B is done in the S band.
In some countries, some frequency range of the S band is being used for Direct-to-Home (DTH) satellite television. But with the upcoming and ever growing mobile broadband service, the S band becomes immensely valuable in terms of usage as well as money. The frequency, also known as 2.5 GHz band, is globally used for providing mobile broadband services using fourth generation (4G) technologies such as WiMax and Long Term Evolution (LTE).
This frequency band is unique because it has substantial amount of spectrum (about 190 MHz) that can be put to use for mobile users. The other spectrum bands up to 3.5 GHz are either include very small amount of spectrum or are unavailable for mobile service.
The band range being so precious, many countries are putting it up for auction and making billions of dollars. In India, Twenty MHz (out of the 190MHz) was recently given to Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd for offering broadband spectrum. BSNL and MTNL were asked to pay Rs. 12,847 crore for their 20MHz. ( As per reports, the controversial Devas is getting access to 70 MHz in the same band for just over Rs. 1,000 crore)
Harmonious Usage
· The usability of this 2.5GHz band being used for mobile services essentially depends on how harmonious it is with the global usage.
· That is because if the same band is used everywhere, then the mobile manufacturing companies can focus on manufacturing devices compatible with this specific radio frequency.
· If all the countries have their own plan for using spectrum, then telecom networks and devices would become very complex and expensive.
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