Accelerating the Speed TRAI Gives Its Recommendation To Accelerate The Growth Of Broadband

Broadband is high speed; always-on Internet access, which is widely recognized as catalyst for economic and social development of a country. Broadband enables people to surf Internet, provide access to enormous knowledge bank, to do business more efficiently, be better educated, have access to e-health services, benefit from better governance and enjoy enhanced entertainment. Availability of Broadband services at affordable tariff can have significant impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and attract new investment as well as generate more employment in addition to increase in Productivity. Therefore all these plus points of Broadband make it necessary to be a part of economy. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), recognizing the importance of broadband forwarded its first recommendations on “Accelerating Growth of Internet and Broadband Penetration” in April 2004. Based on this the Government announced its broadband policy in 2004 and projected that the number of broadband subscribers in India would reach 9 million by end-2007. However we have not even reached one third of the target which is a shameful thing. 

A-la-Carte Rates for Non CAS Areas

On 18 January 2008, TRAI placed the filings by the broadcasters regarding a-al-carte rates and bouquet rates of their pay channels in non-CAS areas on its website. 

This is a great achievement in the history of Cable TV as broadcasters have been avoiding this since 2003 when CAS Act was introduced. However still this is only a tentative list which has yet to get the approval of the government. 

A-la-Carte Rates for Non CAS Areas

On 18 January 2008, TRAI placed the filings by the broadcasters regarding a-al-carte rates and bouquet rates of their pay channels in non-CAS areas on its website. 

This is a great achievement in the history of Cable TV as broadcasters have been avoiding this since 2003 when CAS Act was introduced. However still this is only a tentative list which has yet to get the approval of the government. 

TRAI Releases Recommendation On Provision Of IPTV Services

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) released the recommendation on provisioning of IPTV services on 4 January 2008. IPTV is a new method of delivering and viewing television programs using an IP network and high speed broadband technology. It is fast becoming a popular value added service in many countries. The fast development in telecom technologies, enormous capabilities of IP platform and increasing digitalization in broadcasting sector is driving services like Internet Protocol TV (IPTV).The issue of provisioning of IPTV services was discussed in detail in TRAI's Position paper released on 6th September, 2007 and in the subsequent draft recommendation released on 28th November, 2007. 

February 2008

Friday, February 1, 2008 -- After meeting some journalists and news editors of News X channel complaining against the management and its source of funding, the PIB released a statement by the I&B Minister Mr. PR Dasmunshi showing concern about the incident referring the matter to the finance ministry.

Digitalization On The Go

These are interesting times in the industry. In every segment there is hectic activity and an increasing sense of competition giving rise to new strategies, innovations and technology upgrades. Digital is the buzz word everywhere. Existing DTH players are facing the heat of technology changes from MPEG-2 to MPEG-4. The new players are adopting MPEG-4 to provide more number of channels and better services including HDTV. Also, there is a race amongst the existing players to grab the viewers before the new ones catch them. Rates have been cut down to half and free subscriptions are being doled out. 

Ground networks of Cable Operators are being upgraded to digital. With IPTV permitted to the registered Cable Operators without any license, they have more options for their upgrades now. HITS may further accelerate the digital process in the Cable TV industry. At present only WWIL will go in for HITS as they already have a license. Others are likely to wait and watch to see how the market reacts to HITS. Definitely, there will be many issues to be resolved in the earlier days of implementation.