A new era of wireless mobile telephony was flagged off in the country earlier today, when BSNL turned on its satellite phone service for the common man.

AFP

This satellite phone service will be enabled through INMARSAT, a British satellite communications company founded in 1979. The satellite phone service service will be especially useful in covering areas where existing terrestrial mobile telephone networks don’t exist and will be provided by INMARSAT which has 14 satellites.

The BSNL satellite phone service will be initially offered to Indian government agencies, according to reports, and soon opened up for others citizens in a phased manner.

Earlier today, BSNL Chairman and Managing Director Anupam Shrivastava said: "We are starting satellite mobile service today with voice and SMS."

"The call rates will be determined by BSNL. It should be in the range of Rs 30-35 per minute," INMARSAT India Managing Director Gautam Sharma said.

Agencies handling disasters, state police, railways, Border Security Force and other government agencies will be given the phones in the first phase, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha said at the service launch.

Iridium satellite phone handset

The new satellite phone service in the country will only require miniature handsets -- like conventional, untethered smartphones -- and won’t require antennas or other heavy equipment required to be towed in a bag alongside. Eventually, in the near future, the service can also be made available for people travelling in a flight or on shipping vessels high at sea.

Currently, there are 1,532 authorised satellite phone connections that can operate within the country and a majority of them are used by security forces.

Defence forces did not opt for satellite phones from the foreign operators because of security and espionage concerns. Other security agencies have been demanding for a long time for the establishment of a new gateway in the country which can support new generation handsets for land mobile connections.

With inputs from Economic Times