(a) whether the International mobile standards body 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP) has approved India’s regional navigation satellite system, NavIC which would facilitate NavIC’s use in mobile phones;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the ancillary benefits of the NavIC satellite system and how does the Government plan to raise financial resources through additional applications of the system?
THE MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF PERSONNEL, PG & PENSIONS AND IN THE PRIME MINISTER’S OFFICE
(DR. JITENDRA SINGH):
(a) Yes Sir, the International mobile standards body 3rd Generation
Partnership Project (3GPP) has approved India''s regional navigation satellite system, NavIC as a work item (No. 850072) “Support for NavIC Navigation Satellite System for LTE”,
(b) 3GPP Technical Specifications Group – Radio Access Network (RAN) has introduced assisted-GNSS support in cellular positioning system since Release 7. Since then, the GPS of USA, GLONASS of Russia, GALILEO of European Union, and BeiDou of China have been included in the assisted-GNSS specifications.
As a service provider of NavIC, ISRO is working for the finalisation of NavIC parameters through TSDSI (Telecommunications Standards Development Society, India) and would successfully include NavIC in the upcoming 16th release of 3GPP expected to be in vogue from mid-2020.
With this, NavIC will be part of assisted-GNSS (along with GPS, GLONASS, GALILEO and BEIDOU) being used extensively by cellular positioning system used by the telecom service providers (viz., BSNL, AIRTEL, VODAFONE-IDEA, JIO).
(c) Ancillary benefits of NavIC Satellite System in the areas of civil applications viz., vehicle tracking, asset tracking, and scores of location based mobile phone applications are being made available for use by common citizens.
Currently, the GPS/GLONASS/BEIDOU/GALILEO signals are offered free of cost for all the above applications.
Similarly, NavIC system is offered free of cost. As an initiative towards “Make In India”, ISRO is providing technical consultancy to the prospective Indian industry capable of manufacturing chipsets and devices for using NavIC signals. Adopting NavIC in all the location based solutions will reduce dependence on foreign system and devices.
Also, as a spin off development, NavIC system is used in Safety of Life for fishermen by disseminating disaster warning alerts through NavIC broadcast messaging system in remote locations (high sea) where there is no communication connectivity.
The above applications using indigenously developed system will enhance the socio-economic status of our country.
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