ITV

Category: Regulators

  • TRAI issues data related to activation, deactivation and complaints of VAS

    TRAI issues data related to activation, deactivation and complaints of VAS

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued data related to activation, deactivation and complaints of Value Added Services (VAS) w.e.f.1 January 2014 to 30 September 2014.

     

    The regulator has taken several measures to protect the interest of consumers from time to time to prohibit activation of value added services without the explicit consent of consumers. TRAI has also issued directions which prohibit activation of value added services without the explicit consent of the consumers and also prescribed the manner in which the explicit consent is to be obtained.

     

    TRAI has also made it simpler for the customers to deactivate the VAS through a common toll- free number (155223) accessible through SMS or call across all operators. If any value added service is activated without the consent of a consumer, he may request the service provider for deactivation of such service on toll free Number 155223.

     

    Activation of VAS is continuously monitored by TRAI. The details of total Value Added Services activated, deactivated and complaints received during the year 2014 are given as per Annexure-I.

     

    The directions issued on VAS from time to time are also available on the TRAI’s website www.trai.gov.in.

  • Paradigms of media have expanded vastly with new media coming in: Jaitley

    Paradigms of media have expanded vastly with new media coming in: Jaitley

    NEW DELHI: Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who was given additional charge of Information and Broadcasting Ministry, today said the paradigms of information have expanded with the steady growth of electronic, print and digital media in the country.

     

    He said the information scenario had changed drastically since the days when the only sources of information were Doordarshan and All India Radio.

     

    Currently, the media landscape has seen unprecedented growth within the radio and new media streams.

     

    He was speaking to the media after taking charge of his new portfolio. Earlier, he held a meeting with senior officials of the Ministry.

     

    In his interaction with the media, Col Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore, who has become the Minister of State for I&B, said he would strive to fulfill the responsibilities given to him.

     

    Meanwhile, former I&B Minister Prakash Javadekar tweeted “I enjoyed thoroughly working as MOS (IC) for I&B and MOS for Parliament Affairs; I handed over these charge with great satisfaction.”

  • DAS expected to remain priority with new I&B Ministers

    DAS expected to remain priority with new I&B Ministers

    NEW DELHI: Manufacturers of Digital Addressable System set top boxes today assured the Information and Broadcasting Ministry that they had the adequate quantity of boxes needed and it was now up to local cable operators to place orders for them.

     

    This assurance was given at a meeting chaired by I& B Secretary Bimal Julka at the initiative of the Ministry.

     

    Ministry sources told indiantelevision.com that the manufacturers generally thanked the government for its proactive role in the matter of DAS.

     

    The Ministry was assured that the manufacturers will be able to meet the demand of 110 million boxes needed for the final two phases of cable television digitisation.

     

    The manufacturers appreciated the efforts of the government for resolving their long pending demand of C-form. They said they have sufficient installed capacity to meet the full demands of STBs locally and said the measures taken by the government would help the indigenous manufacturing industry to give employment to about 50,000 people and would attract an investment of about Rs 500 crore. It would generate local support facility for repair of STBs and would also help in smooth implementation of digitization initiative in the country.

     

    The Finance Ministry had on 13 August extended the facility of Form ‘C’ under section 8(3) (b) of Central Sales Tax Act 1956 to Set Top Boxes thus fulfilling the major demand of the domestic STB manufacturers. Domestic STB manufacturers would charge CST @ 2 per cent against VAT of 12-14 per cent being paid earlier.

     

    Meanwhile, both I&B Minister Arun Jaitley and Minister of State Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore have in their meetings with senior officials said that DAS has to be given the uppermost priority.

     

    It is learnt that the meeting of the Consultative Committee of members of Parliament of the I&B Ministry slated for tomorrow will also take up the issue of DAS of cable television networks.

     

    The Phase-III of digitization oe completed by December 2015 would cover all other urban areas (Municipal Corporations/ Municipalities) which were not covered in first two phases. Phase-IV to be completed by December 2016 would cover the rest of India.

  • R Jaya takes over as JS (Broadcasting) in I&B as Supriya Sahu’s term ends

    R Jaya takes over as JS (Broadcasting) in I&B as Supriya Sahu’s term ends

    NEW DELHI: Senior Indian Administrative Service (IAS) officer R Jaya has taken over as joint secretary (Broadcasting) in the Information and Broadcasting Ministry following the end of the extended term of Supriya Sahu.

     Sahu, whose term ended in June but was given a three-month extension, has sought leave for two months and will be posted elsewhere, later.

     Tamil Nadu-cadre officer Jaya was member secretary in National Council for Teacher Education under the Department of School Education and Literacy.

     Jaya is from the 1995 batch of the Tamil Nadu cadre and also worked in the Rural Development, Home and Personnel ministries before her last assignment in the Human Resource Development Ministry.
    Sahu is also from the Tamil Nadu cadre of IAS 1991 batch. She was handling the transition to digital addressable systems for cable television at present, apart from conducting the weekly open house meetings with multi-system operators and cable operators with regard to licensing and other issues.

     She had joined the I&B Ministry as director in July 2009 and was promoted to joint secretary in October 2011.

    Meanwhile, Puneet Kansal, an IAS officer from the 1996 batch from Sikkim, has been elevated and transferred as JS to the I&B Ministry against a vacant post. He is expected to look after FM and community radio.

     On deputation to the Centre since February 2009, he was until recently, director in the Power Ministry.

     

  • Information and Broadcasting goes to Arun Jaitley

    Information and Broadcasting goes to Arun Jaitley

    NEW DELHI: Arun Jaitley, who has been divested of the Defence portfolio, has once again taken up the mantle of Information and Broadcasting Minister – a post he had held when A B Vajpayee was the Prime Minister – in addition to Finance and Corporate Affairs.

     

    Prime Minister Narendra Modi has, thus, upgraded the post of I&B Minister which has been held by Ministers of State with Independent Charge under Vajpayee, Dr Manmohan Singh and Modi.

     

    Jaitley will also have a Minister of State to assist him in Information and Broadcasting – Col. Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore.

     

     While Defence has gone to former Goa Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, former I& B Minister will continue to retain the Environment and Forests portfolio. Ravi Shankar Prasad also continues to retain the Communications portfolio and former actress Smriti Irani continues to hold the Human Resource Development portfolio, both in cabinet rank.

     

    Currently a Rajya Sabha member from Gujarat, Jaitley is a senior advocate of the Supreme Court. He had commenced his political career with the Akhil Bharatiya Vidyarthi Parishad, the student wing of the Bhartiya Janta Party. He has been a member of the national executive of Bharatiya Janata Party since 1991. After the BJP led National Democratic Alliance came to power under Atal Behari Vajoayee, Jaitley was appointed Minister of State for Information and Broadcasting (Independent Charge) on 13 October 1999.

     

    Colonel Rajyavardhan Singh Rathore is an Indian shooter and politician, who rose to fame after winning the Silver medal in Men’s Double Trap at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. On 10 September 2013, Rathore joined the BJP after taking voluntary retirement from the Indian Army. He was elected as a Member of Parliament in the 2014 Lok Sabha elections from Jaipur Rural.

     

    A film personality, singer Babul Supriyo, finds a berth in the cabinet as Minister of State for Urban Development, Housing and Urban Poverty Alleviation.

  • No MSO carrying more than 386 TV channels in first quarter of fiscal 2014-15: TRAI

    No MSO carrying more than 386 TV channels in first quarter of fiscal 2014-15: TRAI

    NEW DELHI: The maximum number of TV channels being carried by any reporting multi-system operator in the first quarter ending June 2014 of the current fiscal is 386, according to a report by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

     In conventional analogue form, the maximum number of channels being carried by any reporting MSO is 100.

     There were a total of 186 pay channels as reported by broadcasters for which the wholesale channels rates have been taken on record.

     During the quarter ending June 2014, the distribution of “Fox Sports News” channel was discontinued by the broadcaster.

     Apart from All India Radio, there are 243 private FM Radio stations in operation at the quarter ending June, 2014, according to information supplied by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry.

     TRAI said no new DTH license was issued during the quarter ending June 2014.

     At present apart from the Freedish DTH service of Doordarshan, there are six private DTH Operators. All the six private DTH Operators are offering pay DTH services.

     The total number of registered subscribers and active subscribers being served by these six private DTH operators, as reported to TRAI, are 67.57 million and 38.24 million respectively as on 30 June 2014.

     The total number of Internet subscribers has increased from 251.59 million at the end of Mar-14 to 259.14 million at the end of Jun-14 there has been a quarterly growth of 3.00 per cent. Out of which wired internet subscribers are 18.55 million and wireless internet subscribers are 240.60 million.

     Number of broadband internet subscribers increased from 60.87 million at the end of March to 68.83 million at the end of June with quarter growth of 13.07 per cent.

     The number of narrowband internet subscribers has slightly declined from 190.72 million at the end of March to 190.31 million at the end of June with quarterly growth of -0.21 per cent.

     The license fee increased from Rs 3286 crore for the QE March to Rs 3503 crore for the QE June. The quarterly and the year-on-year (Y-O-Y) growth rates of license fee are 6.62% and 13.30 per cent, respectively in this quarter.

     Access services contributed 78.48  per cent of the total Adjusted Gross Revenue of telecom services. In access services, gross revenue, adjusted gross revenue (AGR), license fee and spectrum usage charges increased by 4.64 per cent, 7.81 per cent, 7.62 per cent and 8.61 per cent,  respectively, whereas Pass Through Charges decreased by 2.96 per cent in QE June.

     

    The Monthly Average Revenue per User (ARPU) for Access Services based on AGR increased from Rs 115.28 in QE March to Rs122.39 in QE June.

     Monthly Average Revenue Per User (ARPU) for GSM service increased by 4.84%, from Rs113 in QE March to Rs 119 in QE June, whereas Y-O-Y increase of 6.72%.

     Prepaid ARPU for GSM service per month increased from Rs 99 in QE March to Rs 104 in QE June, and Postpaid ARPU per month increased from Rs 453 in QE March to Rs 469 in QE June.

     On an all India average, the overall MOU per subscriber per month for GSM service increased by 0.42% from 389 in QE March to Rs 390 in QE June.

    Prepaid MOU per subscriber for GSM service increased from 365 in QE March to 366 in QE June and postpaid MOUs increased from Rs 957 in QE March to Rs 961 in QE June.

     The Monthly ARPU for CDMA full mobility service increased by 6.22%, from Rs 105 in QE March to Rs 112 in QE June. ARPU for CDMA has increased by 13.4% on Y-O-Y basis in this

     

  • TRAI asked to rework on spectrum auction policy by Telecom Commission

    TRAI asked to rework on spectrum auction policy by Telecom Commission

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Commission is understood to have asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to rework its policy with regard to spectrum auction.

     
    The directive follows study by an internal committee of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), which rejected the regulator’s recommendation to conduct the next round of auction after keeping enough spectrum.
     

    TRAI in its recommendations had said the government should release enough spectrum before the next round of auction which is slated to take place before March 2015. TRAI has the support of major telecom operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications.
     

    The DoT internal committee has said it is not clear when additional spectrum will be vacated by the Defence Ministry. The DoT committee feels that there is no point in stalling the sale of what is already available
     

    In its recommendation, TRAI said the Defence Ministry should vacate the spectrum in the 2,100 MHz band. In addition, TRAI proposed that Bharatiya Sanchar Nigam Limited should surrender 1.2 MHz spectrum in the 900 MHz band.
     

    The amount of spectrum being put up for auction early next year is less than the 2G spectrum currently being used by mobile operators whose licenses are due for renewal and this may lead to problems, observers in the telecom industry said.

     

  • 131 MSOs get ten year licences under DAS for specified areas

    131 MSOs get ten year licences under DAS for specified areas

    NEW DELHI: A total of 131 multi-system operators (MSO) all over the country have been granted permanent registration for ten years to operate the digital addressable system (DAS).

     

    The MSOs had been given provisional permission earlier. The latest list is as on 7 November.

     

    The MSOs who have received permission after the last list released as on 21 August include Skynet Digital Services for the state of Uttar Pradesh except the cities of Agra, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi; Crystal Transmission for Chennai Metropolitan area, Sanghvi Digital Network for Bokaro district in Jharkhand; Vortex Digital Network for Delhi; Yerraguntla Cable Network for Kadapa District Andhra Pradesh under Phase III and IV; and Royal Services Diginet Vision for Hamirpur District, Mandi District and Kangra District of Himachal Pradesh.

     

    Others include Silverline Entertainment the state of Uttar Pradesh except Agra, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Lucknow, Meerut and Varanasi; Hathway New Concept Cable and Datacom for Delhi; ACN Digital for the state of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan and Maharashtra under under Phase III and IV; Koduri Satyanarayana, Sri Sai Star for Khammam District of Telengana; Abhilash Communications for  Notified Areas of Phase  II and Phase  III cities pan India; JPR Channel Mumbai (Phase I) and Phase II areas in Maharashtra and Gujarat; Operator Digital Tamil Nadu for all the cities, towns and villages of Phase II,III and  IV in Tamil Nadu; V K Digital Network for Cities/Towns/Areas occurring against Phase I, Phase II, Phase III, Phase IV; Saga Entertainment Network In Tamil Nadu; Talacher TV Home Cable Network for  Angul District and Dhenkanal District, Odissa; Voice and Vision Club for Phase III and  IV of Madhya Pradesh and Sonebhadra Districts of Uttar Pradesh; Den Satellite Network in Maharashtra; and Venkata Sai Media for district of Srikakulam, Vijayanagaram, Visakhapatanam, East Godavari, West Godavari, Krishna, Guntur, Prakasam and Nellore in the state of Andhra Pradesh and in the district of Greater Hyderabad, Rangareddy, Medak, Nizamabad, Mehaboob Nagar, Warangal, Sangareddy and Khammam in the state of Telangana.

     

    The list of MSOs who have been refused permission has gone up from 16 to 22.

     

    MSO sources, however, said that the approved list was in addition to the 140 whose names had been approved earlier in March last year.

     

    The Ministry website mib.nic.in has listed the areas and the date from which the MSOs have been given permission.

  • Senior-level reshuffles and postings in I&B, Prasar Bharati

    Senior-level reshuffles and postings in I&B, Prasar Bharati

    NEW DELHI: A series of transfers and reshuffling at senior levels of Group A Indian Information Service officers has been made in the media wings of the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and Prasar Bharati to tone its functioning.

    A Ministry source told indiantelevision.com that while some transfers were routine, others had been done in an effort to make the functioning of the media units better.

    Bhupendra Kainthola has been shifted from the Press Information Bureau in Chandigarh as director (News) in DD News. The transfer orders of B Narayanan who is director in the Directorate of Field Publicity and had received orders to move to DD News have been cancelled and he will continue in his present post.

    C Senthil Rajan who was in charge of the Directorate of Advertising and Visual Publicity in Guwahati has been transferred to Delhi as director of the DAVP.

    Uday Moray who is additional director general (Media and Communications) in Press Information Bureau in Delhi has been moved to Ahmedabad in the same capacity.

    Pashant Pathrabe who was under order of posting as director in All India Radio, Mumbai, has been made director (M&C) in PIB Pune, taking the place of S Srinivasa who has been moved as director (M&C) in PIB Ahmedabad.

    Samrat Bandopadhyay who was assistant director (News) in the Shillong Kendra of Doordarshan has been transferred to PIB as assistant director (M and C).

    B Doungal who was director (News) in AIR in Guwahati has been transferred as director (M&C) in PIB Delhi. He is succeeded by S N Pradhan, director (News) in the Doordarshan Kendra in Bhubaneswar. Pradhan will hold additional charge of DAVP.

    Pradhan’s place is being taken by AK Mishra on repatriation from the Central Board of Film Certification in Cuttack.

    Anurag Mishra who was director (M&C) in PIB Delhi is moving to the Indian Institute of Mass Communications as assistant professor. He will be succeeded by Jaideep Bhatnagar, who was working as director of the New Media Wing and also as officer on special duty in IIMC.

    R P Upadhyay who has been a correspondent for Prasar Bharati in Kabul now takes over as assistant news registrar in the Registrar of Newspapers in India.

    UK Biswas who was assistant director of the Electronic Media Monitoring Committee is moving in the same capacity to directorate of Field Publicity.

    A K Srivastava who is presently the deputy director in IIMC moves to Publications Division in the same capacity.

     

  • Javadekar wants media to suggest ways to strengthen its independence

    Javadekar wants media to suggest ways to strengthen its independence

    NEW DELHI: Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar has called for solutions from the media fraternity to encourage freedom of the press while also ensuring responsible journalism.

     

    Javadekar stressed the need to increase the powers of the Press Council of India (PCI) after proper consultations. “We are a democratic country; we do not want to have external control, government control on any format of information. But at the same time, the freedom has not come for free. The freedom mandates us to be used in a responsible way,” he said.

     

    “So it is responsible freedom and to that end the press fraternity and the media fraternity will definitely think and come out with solutions and suggestions to us so that there can be a real freedom and real responsible journalism,” he said, adding that media did not enjoy freedom in all countries like it did in India.

     

    He said as a Press Council member, he had seen what kind of complaints come and also noted that sometimes when Press council censors a publication, it is not even published.

     

    “So there is a need to increase, a bit, the rights of the Press Council after a discussion,” he added. He felt that that the print media continues to be considered reliable.

     

    Speaking about the functioning of the RNI, Javadekar said it had initiated several measures such as online filing of annual statements, quick disposal of title applications and registration cases, creation of e-mail and mobile number database of publishers and owners and automatic SMS intimation.

     
    He was speaking at a function of the Registrar of Newspapers for India (RNI) where he released the report ‘Press in India 2013-2014’,