Question: Who launched the Maritime Communication Services in India on September 13, 2019?
(a) Ram Nath Kovind
(b) Venkaiah Naidu
(c) Narendra Modi
(d) Ravishankar Prasad
Answer: (d)
Related facts:
- Union Minister for Communications Ravi Shankar Prasad has launched the maritime communication services at Mumbai on September 13, 2019.
- The Maritime Connectivity will enable high-end support to those in sea by providing access to Voice, Data and Video services while traveling on sailing vessels, cruise liners, ships in India, using satellite technology.
- Nelco, India’s leading VSAT solutions provider is the first Indian company that will now provide quality broadband services to the maritime sector.
- Nelco through global partnerships, infrastructure including transponder capacity on satellite of ISRO (Indian Space Research Organization) and a comprehensive service portfolio will help Energy, Cargo and Cruise vessels by enhancing operational efficiency, improving crew welfare and enabling customer services.
- In December 2018, the Government of India announced the licenses for In-flight and Maritime Communications (IFMC) that allows voice and internet services while flying over the Indian skies and sailing in Indian waters, both for international and Indian aircrafts and vessels.
- The IFMC license is a key initiative of the Telecom Ministry, a move to liberalise satellite communication services in India.
- Ravishankar Prasad also launched a web portal for reporting of stolen mobiles for tracing purposes. International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) is supposed to be an unique identity of a mobile phone device.
- Accordingly, a project called Central Equipment Identity Register (CEIR) system has been undertaken by the DoT for addressing security, theft and other concerns including reprogramming of mobile handsets.
The major objectives of the project include following:
- Blocking of lost/stolen mobile phones across mobile networks thus discouraging theft of mobile phones.
- Facilitate in tracing of such reported lost/stolen mobile phones
- Prevention of mobile devices with duplicate and fake IMEIs in the network.
- Curtail the use of counterfeit mobile devices
- Reduced health risks to the users with the control of use of counterfeit mobile phones
- Improved QoS and reduced call drops with reduction in use of counterfeit mobile devices
Links:
https://pib.gov.in/PressReleseDetail.aspx?PRID=1585036