GSAT-18 that aims at providing telecommunications services for the country by strengthening ISRO's current fleet of 14 operational telecom satellites was launched into a Geosynchronous Transfer Orbit (GTO) about 32 minutes after the lift-off. GSAT-18 is the 20th satellite from ISRO to be launched by the portable saw mill Suppliers European space agency and the mission is the 280th for Arianespace launcher family.Announcing the successful launch of the satellite, Arianespace CEO Stephane Israel tweeted: "We take great pride in our strong relationship w/ @ISRO! Tonight marks 20 sats. This situation can lead to greater consolidation in the sector, acting out the Darwinian theory of the survival of the fittest in the 21st century. This is 43 per cent short of the Rs 56,000 crores estimated from auctions in the Union Budget for this fiscal.Reliance Jio Infocomm bought airwaves worth 136.Vodafone Group Plc was the top spender in the auction with 202.9 billion from a spectrum auction that ended on Thursday, but there were no takers for the most-efficient yet priciest 700 megahertz band of airwaves and only 40 per cent of the total on offer was sold.
19 billion rupees. New Delhi: India said on Friday it will consider re-auctioning mobile phone spectrum that remained unsold in a sale this week when the financial situation of its telecoms companies improves.Deepak said the government will decide later on whether to consider cutting the price of the 700 band airwaves."So, we will take the appropriate decision at the appropriate time.72 billion rupees, Idea Cellular spent 127.8 billion rupees worth of bids, followed by Bharti Airtel's 142.98 billion rupees, and Tata Teleservices bid for 46.44 billion rupees, according to government data released on Friday."The necessary preparations have been made and our team back in India is working on mission operations at Master Control Facility, Hassan," he said. Kumar said the next step after the successful launch of GSAT-18 was to carry out a series of manoeuvres before positioning it in its orbital location.
Weighing 3,404 kg at lift-off, GSAT-18 carries 48 communication transponders to provide services in Normal C-band, Upper Extended C-band and Ku-bands of the frequency spectrum. "GSAT 18 is an important satellite for us that will enable the continuity of the vital communication services in our country by replacing the currently ageing satellites," the ISRO chief said. Pointing out that two more satellites GSAT 17 and GSAT 11 were getting ready for the launch by Arianespace during early next year, Kumar said "realisation of both these satellites is in advanced stage". Both of these upcoming launches are crucial for the Indian Space Programme," he added."I am really delighted this evening having witnessed another glorious and flawless lift-off of Ariane-5 VA-231 flight that carried GSAT-18 and Sky Muster II successfully.