"Spot beam" satellite being developed for rural net connectivity: ISRO

Bangalore: India is developing an unconventional satellite which will be designed to provide fast-track internet connectivity to rural masses and allow them to access advice on various aspects of agriculture, according to chairman of Indian Space Research Organisation, G Madhavan Nair.

"You know, if you take the country, even today more than 30,000 villages don't have proper connectivity. (With) conventional type of satellites, we cannot meet that requirement", he said. "So, we have to go for spot beams, high bandwidth type of capacity to be built up. Only that can make things happen", he said.

Aimed primarily at rural areas, the new INSAT-class, three tonne satellite, will not have an all-India beam, but spot beams instead which would cover different parts of the country. These would be controlled by a hub, which would be connected to the national network.

As for the satellite's applications, Nair, who is also secretary, department of Space, said "communication has to be established. Then, agricultural advice which needs to be given to farmers in various aspects...that would be provided through that (the satellite)".

The spacecraft would be launched by European space consortium, Arianespace, within two years, he added.