The ambitious project of creating a global mobile satellite communication system "Ether "has been excluded from the national program"Digital Economy". The project implementation costs were estimated at 299 billion rubles. At the same time, 30 billion rubles from extra-budgetary sources should have already been allocated for the design of this system.
At the disposal of CNews was an updated version of the federal project "Information Infrastructure" of the national program "Digital Economy". It follows from the document that since 2021, funding for the project to create a Global Multifunctional Infocommunication Satellite System (GMISS) is being discontinued.
The Ether project appeared in the Digital Economy program at the end of 2017. It was to be created by the state corporation Roscosmos and the Russian Space Systems Enterprise (RKS) subordinate to it.
The cost of creating the system was estimated at 299 billion rubles, which should have been fully provided by extra-budgetary sources. The consortium of investors was to be formed by the state corporation "VEB. RF". The GMISS was to become the most expensive event of the national program of the "Digital Economy".
The name "Ether"was coined for GMISS. According to the RCS presentation, the Ether system was supposed to be deployed by 2025. According to the plan, the system should have included 288 satellites orbiting 870 km and covering the entire territory of the Earth.
The system would provide telephone services and Internet access, as well as the Internet of Things, traffic monitoring and unmanned vehicles. The system's clients would be mining and electric power companies, enterprises from the housing and utilities sector, agriculture, transport, e-commerce, medicine, education and the entertainment industry.
From the current version of the federal project "Information Infrastructure", it follows that in 2020, 30 billion rubles were to be allocated from extra-budgetary sources for the design of the GMISS. No further funding was provided for the creation of the system. Representatives of Roskomos did not respond to a request about whether these funds were allocated for the creation of GMISS.
The newspaper "Kommersant" wrote that " VEB.The Russian Federation " decided to withdraw from the number of investors of GMISS. After that, Roscosmos initiated the exclusion of relevant measures from the national program "Digital Economy".
At the same time, in the summer of 2018, Russian President Vladimir Putin announced the creation of a more ambitious satellite constellation called "Sphere", which was supposed to consist of 600 spacecraft. The" Sphere "was to include "Ether" and other existing and projected satellite communication systems-GLONASS," Messenger"," Skif"," Express"," Express-RV"," Marathon"," Luch", as well as Earth remote sensing satellites.
But with the refusal to create a GMISS, Russia remains without plans to form its own global mobile satellite communication system. At the same time, at the last meeting of the State Commission on Radio Frequencies (SCR), the question of the feasibility of creating such a system was to be discussed.
The materials of the commission noted that a number of communication systems on non-geostationary satellites are currently being created in the world, including OneWeb, Starlink, Telesat and Kuiper. These systems will not be able to fully satisfy the interests of Russian consumers, moreover, they do not have agreements with the Russian authorities.
In this regard, Russia needs to submit an application to the International Telecommunication Union in order to allocate frequencies for its own grouping on non-geostationary satellites, since otherwise the frequencies will be occupied by other systems, it was noted in the materials of the commission.
