Combined VSAT Operations to Get Wider Market Reach and Better Scale The new agreement also outlines that in the combined entity which will be formed to hold the VSAT operations, Hughes will have the majority stake, whereas Bharti Airtel will hold significant shares in the company. The benefits of a combined entity for VSAT will help the company via an enhanced scale, improved operational efficiencies and broader market reach. Airtel and Hughes together will be seeking to fill the demand for secure connectivity in the rapidly growing digital economy. Notably, HCIL is a well known broadband satellite service provider in the country, and it already provides networking technologies, solutions, and services for businesses and governments. VSAT Important for In-flight Connectivity The new combined entity will be able to provide new products and services related to VSAT, in addition to that, the company will also continue to serve the existing customers of Airtel and Hughes as well. Talking about this new partnership, Partho Banerjee, President and Managing Director, Hughes Communications India Ltd remarked, “We are very excited about the synergies that this partnership will bring to the Indian ecosystem. These are exciting times for satellite broadband service providers as VSAT becomes more mainstream, driven by growing demand from both, enterprise and government segments.” It is also worth noting that VSAT is a crucial technology in the deployment of in-flight connectivity. As per a research firm Euroconsult, over 23,000 commercial aircraft would start providing this connectivity by 2027, up from 7,400 aircraft in 2017. Also, Northern Sky Research’s Aeronautical SatCom Market’s 2017 report predicts that by the end of 2019, broadband VSAT (very small aperture terminal) connectivity would be in one out of every three aircraft, whereas by 2026, the number would rise to two thirds.
