Dear Editor,
Guyana, like other territories, is able to broadcast (live and otherwise) television programs (including cricket) and to communicate (electronically) through satellites, spacecrafts, orbiting way above earth. These space equipment or devices also are responsible for phone conversations and internet access as well as to take and send pictures instantly from far distances and assist in weather forecasting, among other benefits.
Without satellite link up, Guyana won’t have quality TV, phone (mobile or cellular and even land), and internet services. Guyana first started TV broadcasting in mid 1980s by Vieira and Rex and later by Sharma. Others came much later. Dishes download programs and rebroadcast them. Only during the mid-1990s Guyana started having quality TV and live broadcasting; this has been made possible largely to satellite downlinks and uplinks and large ‘dishes’ to broadcast outside and or inside of the country. In that decade and into the 2000s, TV was available largely through antenna. Over the last decade or so, with satellite service, TV has been available through cable (central office downlinks from satellite) although many people in rural areas and the poor still have antenna access TV.
Guyana, unlike wealthier countries, does not have its own satellites.
Only a few countries (like USA, Russia, France for the EU, India, and a few others) have satellites and fewer have the capability, capacity, technical know-how to launch and or operate satellites or space programs. Guyana rents time or ‘space’ from satellites owned and or operated by major space companies of developed countries. Currently, Guyana partners with satellite companies in Spain (as part of EU investment) and USA (Elon Musk’s Starlink) for services; at various times, different satellite providers provided services. The costs, terms, and conditions of renting or purchasing satellite services are not known; but it is not cheap. Both the government and the private sector have rented satellite time or ‘space’. The government reported that the rented satellite services strengthen internet access for its services, education, and banking, among other areas. Private sector utilizes satellite for providing telecommunications, cable, and WiFi services. Satellite services link hinterland and the coast.
Underdeveloped countries like Guyana cannot afford to own and or manage satellites — a high tech industry even though several Guyanese scientists and engineers are known to be employed in high tech companies linked to satellites operation, the space industry, and TV broadcasting in USA and Canada. It is a very high-cost operation. Guyana and other developing countries in Africa, Latin America, Caribbean, Asia, etc.) rent space or time with satellites managed by Americans and Europeans. Of late, some have turned to China and India which tend to offer lower rates than the developed countries. India has provided satellites link up virtually for free to many poor countries in Africa, Asia, and the Indian Ocean. Guyana and the Caribbean have not accessed India’s satellite services.
Several commentators, including a few Guyanese like Freddie Kissoon, were critical of India spending large amounts of resources on space technology and building and launching satellites and exploring the moon and mars. They don’t understand geopolitics. The space program is a matter of identity and security for India. India cannot rely on developed countries or Russia for its security. India has to defend itself and develop its own satellites for defense and must remain competitive with arch rival China. When India was attacked by China in 1962, Western countries did not come to India request. When India sought to purchase a super computer during the 1980s and 1990s, it was denied, it was denied. India has developed its own supercomputers and its own missiles for defense and space programs. India’s Brahmos is the fastest missile and scientists are working to improve on it.
Also, India has very advanced space technology from which it has been able to earn revenues; it is almost self-sufficient. It is indigenous, and the program has been opposed by the developed countries. It is a matter of pride for the nation and its diaspora that Indian can build and launch satellites — and spectacular missions to space. In addition, India uses its satellites to aid developing countries and provides the lowest rates to launch satellites.
India’s space journey has been met with spectacular success. India launched over 400 satellites (including for USA, Europe, Japan, Singapore, UK, Canada, among two dozen others) since its space program began five decades ago. India launched a record 104 satellites in one mission in 2017; the closest to that record was 37 satellites by Russia. India was able to reach Mars orbit, the fourth to do so. It has earned substantial revenues from launching satellites. India’s cost of going to space and the moon is one seventh that of developed countries.
That is why companies prefer to have India launch their satellites. India has provided weather forecasting to poor countries to assist in agriculture. Indian satellites predict cyclones and monsoons and provide internet services to outlying and underserved poor areas. The satellite and space program serves India’s national security interests as well as needs of other developing countries in Africa, Asia, Middle East, Indian Ocean that find costs of western satellites prohibitive. Had India chosen to rent satellite space for broadcasting and telecommunications, WiFi, cellular, etc. from western nations as it did prior to the 1980s, it probably would have cost ten times what India currently provides locally with her own satellites.
Guyana should look at costs on whether to access India satellite services for its digital infrastructure as several African and Asian countries and others have been doing. Off course, for geo security reasons, it is always best to have a tie up with American companies, particularly one like Starlink.