Tuesday 16 August 2011

Government put the mobile TV policy plan on a hold

Indian customers may have to wait longer to access television customized for mobile phones because the government has put its plan of formulating a mobile TV policy in the slow lane.
The dedicated spectrum in UHF band V which is also known as 4G band set for the mobile TV policy is running out of space as the large chunk of the spectrum is being used by the public broadcaster Doordarshan. The Department of telecommunications (DoT) has asked Doordarshan to vacate the spectrum.

Instead of the current streaming mode using the 2G and 3G spectrum, the proposed policy was supposed to benefit the existing telecom operators by offering them a dedicated spectrum for circle wise terrestrial transmission.
In a submission to a parliamentary panel, the I&B Ministry said that the delay is due to the unavailability of the UHF band V (585-806 MHz). Furthermore, the government has conceded that the policy will be finalized only on the availability of the spectrum.
Because of the inactiveness of the government on the policy, the operators would not be able to avail the benefits extended in the draft policy which includes a 74% eligibility cap and automatic eligibility of telecom operators having the Unified Access Service License.
As per the recommendations laid by TRAI, any delay in meeting the mobile TV rollout obligations would allow subsequent defaults resulting in the cancellation of licenses and withdrawal of spectrum.
Before the brawl for spectrum started between the I&B ministry and the DoT, the government had envisaged auction of a minimum of 40 mobile TV licenses across 20 service areas in the country which expected around Rs 200-250 crore in revenues (Rs 5-6 crore per licence), sources said.
According to a senior executive of a leading mobile brand, the existing mobile TV service providers will be outside the domain of any regulatory provision since the policy is very far from the reality.
Owing a mobile TV license was important for the telecom service providers as it would have ensured 8 MHz of dedicated spectrum for mobile television services which would have allowed them to free their precious 3G and 2G spectrum. Under the proposed mobile TV policy, the government would adopt the ascending e-auctions for allocation of mobile TV spectrum. The proposed draft policy also talks about a maximum of three mobile operators in any service area and at least one slot of 8MHz reserved for Doordarshan.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/broadband-and-iptv-news/item/263-government-put-the-mobile-tv-policy-plan-on-a-hold.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/broadband-and-iptv-news/item/263-government-put-the-mobile-tv-policy-plan-on-a-hold.html

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