Lok Sabha Question No. 496 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2020-02-05
Subject: Approving NavIC
Ministry: SPACE
Asked by: Chandra Sekhar Bellana, Magunta Sreenivasulu Reddy, Midhun Reddy

496

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF SPACE LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 496

TO BE ANSWERED ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2020

## APPROVING NAVIC

- SHRI CHANDRA SEKHAR BELLANA: SHRI MAGUNTA SREENIVASULU REDDY: SHRI P.V. MIDHUN REDDY: Will the PRIME MINISTER be pleased to state:
- (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?

## ANSWER

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 service cellular positioning system used by the telecom 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 offered free of cost for all the above applications.

are

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. *****