NEW DELHI: Broadband India Forum (BIF), a technology neutral lobby of several tech companies serving satellite and telecom sector that promotes broadband , said the telecom department (DoT) and the regulator need to work together with the Department of Space (DoS) for commercial satellite communications to provide high speed broadband connectivity in remote and rural parts of the country.“Their (Trai and DoT) role needs to be optimized for benefiting commercial communications. They need to work in close collaboration with the DoS,” T V Ramachandran, president of the Broadband India Forum, told ET.“Satellite technology is a preserve of DoS, but commercial communications is something different and is a specialty of DoT and Trai.”India already has a satcom policy since 1997, and the Open Sky Policy since 2000. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) earlier recommended opening up of Indian satellite market for private players but could not find favour with Department of Space.Trai chairman RS Sharma had earlier said that there was a need to simplify the process and reduce procedural delays in securing satellite bandwidth through a single window approach.“We don't need a change in policy, even the 1997 policy permits that. The procedures and processes have to facilitate implementation of Open Sky Policy in letter and spirit,” Ramachandran said.Ramachandran also urged the authorities to immediately allow the players in India to tap international broadband capacity, which is readily available. “This is the best way for India to address the rural requirement. Atleast 10 GBps of bandwidth capacity is going waste over India from international satellites,” he said.The rollout of high speed broadband, especially in rural areas, is largely dependent on BharatNet (previously National Optical Fibre Network), but the project has been lagging way behind schedule. It is here that technologies such as satellite communication can complement traditional fibre technology, said the forum that has representation from several industries including telecom service providers, technology providers, and satellite & VSAT service providers.Ramachandran added that authorities should free up the market and allow open competition between international and domestic satellite operators. The move will provide a strong boost to the country’s private sector, resulting in new FDI which will help develop a complete ecosystem in India.“We should do a strong boost to investment in our own private sector satellites. ISRO is doing a great job, but there are many applications from private operators for launching satellites. We need to action those and allow them. It will bring in FDI. Once the private capacity is there, ecosystem will also start coming in. Make in India will also benefit from that,” he further added.According to the BIF estimates, there is a direct investment potential of $2 billion. If private investment is permitted, the FDI potential could be in the range of $2-5 billion by 2025.TRAI’s Sharma has previously expressed concern over India – with 7% broadband penetration - trailing nations like Kenya, Algeria, Sri Lanka and Bhutan in the ICT development index.India doesn’t have enough commercial capacity. All satellites are of ISRO's which has got 120 satellites, while world number of satellite is 1400, out of which 50% are communication. India has 25% share of that and without commercial communications. “India is in a very disadvantage position, and public is suffering,” Ramachandran said.The forum also urged for the upgradation of the satellite technology being used in India. Ramachandran said that technology should be modernised to offer HTS configuration using Ka band, which may reduce the cost per by a factor of 7 along with multiple fold increase in capacity.