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Category: Regulators

  • TRAI secretary Sunil K Gupta explains need for tariff order

    TRAI secretary Sunil K Gupta explains need for tariff order

    GOA: After several twists and turns, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) new tariff order crossed its last legal hurdle in the Supreme Court on 30 October. Now, with less than one month left for the implementation of the regulations, several questions still concern the industry stakeholders. On the second day of the Video and Broadband Summit 2018, TRAI secretary Sunil K Gupta spoke on the new regime via Skype and answered questions raised by stakeholders. He also threw light on the initiatives taken by the regulatory body to make consumers aware of the radical changes.

    Indiantelevision.com needs to clarify here that since the VBS session was held in Goa last month, a development has taken place in the form of TRAI, last week, filing a fresh petition in the Supreme Court for review of the Madras High Court observations on a cap of 15 per cent discount on bouquet prices of TV channels.

    Gupta started the session explaining the need to have a comprehensive regulatory framework for dealing with the problems of the broadcasting sector. Talking about the problems faced by different stakeholders, he cited the example of the issues faced by MSOs and LCOs, broadcasters as well as consumers.

    In the case of MSOs and LCOs, the biggest problem was discriminatory treatment by broadcasters. As a result, it was almost impossible for smaller MSOs to get the content at the appropriate price from the broadcasters because the agreements were not transparent. Moreover, the problem was concerning customers as well due to the different rate of channels at different platforms. They didn’t have the power to choose and were forced to take channels provided by the DPOs.

    Broadcasters also faced various difficulties due to the lack of transparency in the entire ecosystem. While they were giving free-to-air channels, they felt that, in many cases, those channels were being actually charged. This menace reduced the probability of use of those channels resulting in fewer viewers. As the revenue of FTA channels is highly based on viewership, the business was getting affected.

    “Similarly, there were problems with broadcasters also as many time broadcasters were complaining that the content which is given to the consumers is not of high quality. Secondly, there are certain channels which were demanded by few stakeholders and because of the cap such channels could not be launched as there were serious issues particularly if you look at channels that are a requirement of a select class of stakeholders,” he said.

    “So considering all these issues and also the issues of non-transparency, we have come up with a very comprehensive framework. The comprehensive framework gives rights to the broadcasters to price their channels properly and transparently communicate to consumers,” he added.

    Gupta also explained that TRAI has made arrangements so that price of a particular channel can clearly be displayed on the electronic programme guide. He later added that due to the new regime, subscribers would have choice of channels as well as all the information. Moreover, Gupta said subscribers can get all the related information on the website of the MSOs in the tab which is called ‘customer corner’.

    “As far as MSOs are concerned, there were issues that they did not have funds to upgrade their network for good quality experience to consumers. Now, there will be dedicated money for MSOs and LCOs so the network can be upgraded and good quality service can be given to consumers. Broadcasters also have the freedom to choose what price they can get from subscribers and also appropriately optimise the prices so that they can get maximum revenue of advertisement as well as subscriptions from the consumers,” he added.

    Responding to a question from the audience, Gupta said there is no change in the license of the LCOs and they are supposed to take registration form from the post office only. But he also mentioned that they are working with MIB so that the process can be made online.

    Many MSOs and LCOs raised the concern that it looks like they are being reduced to merely a commissioned agent. Gupta said the functions of LCOs and MSOs have properly been described under the Model Interconnect Agreement (MIA) and the Standard Interconnect Agreement (SIA) divisions.

    “Here the framework is that a channel price which is being prescribed is the broadcaster’s understanding of the price of the particular channel. Now 20-35 per cent discount which is being given is to do certain work for that particular channel. Here, Rs 130 is being given differently and separately to MSOs and LCOs as they are providing the connectivity to consumers and consumers are getting the service from them. In addition to that, the portion of the discount on the content which is either 20 per cent or anything in between 20-35 per cent will also be accounted for sharing between the MSOs and LCOs,” he explained rejecting the claim that MSOs are only about to get commissions.

    TRAI is also taking measures to inform consumers properly about the upcoming change. There will be big campaigns as well as meetings in cities like Delhi, Jaipur, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Mumbai and Bhopal. In addition to that, TRAI is also going to start a programme to inform the consumers. Even jingles will be played on radio and other media to grab consumer attention.

  • TRAI extends deadline for comments on OTT consultation paper

    TRAI extends deadline for comments on OTT consultation paper

    MUMBAI: India’s telecom and broadcast regulator TRAI released a new consultation paper last month on OTT services seeking to expand the definition of the sector and also the regulator’s jurisdiction over a sector till now “unregulated”. The deadline for receiving comments on the consultation paper has been extended up to 7 January 2019 and counter comments by 21 January.

    Earlier dates for the comments and counter comments on the issues raised by the paper were 10 December and 24 December respectively. As TRAI said in a release, the deadline has been extended on request from the stakeholders.

    “Would inter-operability among OTT services and also inter-operatability of their services with TSPs services promote competition and benefit the users? What measures may be taken, if any, to promote such competition? Please justify your answer with reasons.” Questions like these in the paper hint that the government and the regulator are looking at regulations for the OTT services that would include both audio and video services.

    Earlier, the authority issued a consultation paper on  Regulatory Framework for Over-the-top (OTT) services on the 27 March 2015, which also included questions on the principles of net neutrality, the reasonableness of traffic management practices, non-price based discrimination of services and transparency requirements. Due to a large number of issues and their complexity, it became difficult to deliberate upon and conclude all of them together. Therefore, the authority decided to deal with related issues in separate parts, keeping a focus on a core set of issues each time.

  • MIB proposes to strengthen govt-citizen interface

    MIB proposes to strengthen govt-citizen interface

    MUMBAI: Months after a country-wide uproar and nudges from the judiciary forced the Indian government to shutter a Big Brother-type initiative involving tracking of Indians’ digital footprints, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is taking another shot to “understand citizen views expressed publicly in print, television, online and social media platforms”.

    The primary stated aim of this new proposal is to help India’s federal government identify areas and issues that concern citizens and also help it in improving the communication system with regard to addressing citizens’ concerns, while creating awareness about various government initiatives, schemes and other important campaigns.

    “Understanding of trends, topics, hashtags relevant to the government related activities; analysis of social media campaigns run by the government; understanding of social media sentiments, with indicators (topic) wise conversations and other references on the worldwide web” were some of the listed deliverables of the project.

    At this juncture it’s not clear whether the new proposal is a watered-down version of the aborted social media hub of the MIB or purely a government-citizen interface to propagate government schemes.

    According to a tender floated on 7 December 2018 by Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Ltd (BECIL), proposals were invited for strengthening of the New Media Wing (NMW) of the MIB by providing solutions, software and services for an “integrated communication solution to include all digital public platforms (social media and online media) making use of existing infrastructure and resources” of the ministry wherever possible.

    BECIL is an organisation under MIB that was set up in the 1990s and provides project consultancy services and turnkey solutions encompassing the entire gamut of radio and television broadcast engineering like content production facilities, terrestrial transmission facilities, satellite and cable broadcasting facilities in India and abroad. It also provides other allied services.

    The tender document, available on BECIL’s website, further states that the successful bidder would be required to “possess capabilities to study multiple public platforms in order to facilitate creating a comprehensive view of various focus areas of the government”.

    Apart from this, the vendor should have relevant expertise and capability to provide communication insights to the MIB on how to improve the government’s communication and to create citizen-engaging content for various media and social media campaigns.

    “Also, it should provide feedback on various government schemes and suggest steps for its improvement…[and] such a system should provide for a comprehensive feedback reporting system to understand various aspects of traditional and social media communication and help formulate strategies for betterment of the integrated communication of the NMW.

    “The setup should be real time and have multi language capabilities,” the tender document states.

    The deadline for finding a vendor is listed as year-end with other pre-bid meetings to be held before that.

    On the issue of the hyped up Social Media Hub, MIB Minister Rajyavardhan Rathore earlier in the year had tried to allay fears on surveillance and privacy violations by the government. Subsequently, a case was filed in the Supreme Court by a politician from West Bengal alleging that the government was set to unleash an intrusive surveillance era. With the apex court questioning the motives, MIB had announced in August it was closing down the proposal.

  • MIB mulls national b’cast policy to ease stakeholders’ woes

    MIB mulls national b’cast policy to ease stakeholders’ woes

    NEW DELHI: India’s Ministry of Information and Broadcasting is exploring formulating a national broadcast policy or NBP with an aim to ease lengthy and time consuming government processes that media and entertainment industry players have to go through while conducting their businesses.

    According to MIB secretary Amit Khare, his ministry is also formulating the internal FDI policy to align the overall framework with that of the Commerce Ministry. The government had liberalised investment norms for many sectors, including media and entertainment, in 2016, and later dismantled Foreign Investment Promotion Board too making sectoral nodal ministries responsible for greenlighting FDI proposals.   

    “The media and entertainment sector should grow in a way that has less hurdle and more motivation,” Khare said here yesterday while addressing the concluding day audience at the CII Big Picture Summit 2018.

    Expanding on the NBP, Khare said government was exploring ways to ease processes, including a rethink on existing regulations for India’s M&E sector, which, not only has clocked impressive growth, but is also a big generator of employment for people. A new DTH policy, which is in the offing, is an indicator of the government's thought process.

    Admitting that regulation has failed to keep pace with changing technologies, the senior government official said, “Regulating everything is not desirable and even if desirable, it may not always be feasible.”

    However, he did not elaborate on the government’s thought process on content regulation for the digital space that’s fast becoming home to bold themes and bolder content if compared to traditional media of print and television.

    Pointing out that the government faced challenges while formulating policies or reviewing existing ones, Khare gave the example of expanding outlets for distribution of content that now, according to him, can be created practically by anyone with newer digital platforms offering creators enough number of outlets to showcase such creations.

    “In such a scenario, policy reforms [become] a little difficult,” Khare said, adding that the present government, however, was keen to review irksome government processes and clearances without being the “monitor” to mind a “grown-up” industry like media.

    Dwelling further on technology and the transformation it was bringing about in society, in general, Khare said MIB was in talks with regulator TRAI and BECIL to hold workshops to explore actively how broadband services could be delivered via existing cable TV networks to approximately 40 million households that presently don’t have internet facilities.

    Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited or BECIL, a government organisation under the ambit of MIB, provides project consultancy services and turnkey solutions encompassing the entire gamut of radio and television broadcast engineering.

    Later speaking to the media on the sidelines of the event, Khare said consultations will start with industry stakeholders on the formulation of NBP, but refused to give a time frame of it being legislated into some form of a policy document or guidelines.

    Info Tech Minister advocates robust digital measurement norms

    Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and WhatsApp have changed the manner in which users consume content and communicate with each other, but the social media platforms need to be mindful of "certain dos and don'ts" and guard against any misuse of their platforms, Information and Technology Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Friday.

    Speaking at the CII Big Picture Summit, Prasad said that social media platforms' large focus on India underscored the sheer size and opportunities presented by the market here.

    "Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and WhatsApp are coming to India not only because they are giving some service. India offers a robust market, by its sheer size. I always say, come do business, but remember certain dos and don'ts…you must follow," Prasad said.

    The minister said that social media firms should also guard against any potential misuse of their platforms. In particular, these "public platforms" must not be misused by those with wrong intentions for the purpose of exploitation and denigration of others, he said.

    Outlining India's rising digital clout on the back of its large smartphone user base, strong IT outsourcing industry, electronic manufacturing capabilities and biometric programme Aadhaar, the minister asserted that the country will never barter its digital sovereignty and is, in fact, bringing a strong data protection law to safeguard its digital information.

    The right of accessing the internet is "not negotiable" and if the internet is designed for common good, it should be safe and secure, he added.

    He also called for a robust mechanism for measuring the ratings of digital platforms.

  • New DTH policy bonanza for operators likely by year-end

    New DTH policy bonanza for operators likely by year-end

    NEW DELHI: If all goes well, India’s DTH operators may have something to cheer about in the new year. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) wants an updated and tweaked policy to go for cabinet approval by the year end.

    Speaking to the media on the sidelines of CII Big Picture Summit 2018 here today, MIB Secretary Amit Khare said the new DTH policy is almost ready and the goal is to “send it for Cabinet approval” by December-end.

    Explaining the rationale behind the timing, the senior government official said the interim or temporary licenses, being presently handed to some of the biggest DTH operators, will expire this year-end and that makes it necessary to close the issue as soon as possible.

    Though he refused to divulge details of the decades old DTH policy that’s being updated keeping the present scenario in mind, including fast changing technology and a slowing economy, Khare did admit that some sops would be handed to the DTH operators.

    However, he refused to commit on the fact whether those sops would include financial rationalization too like slashing of the annual revenue sharing with the government that is calculated at the rate of 10 per cent.

    In the past, the DTH industry has demanded, among other things, cut in annual revenue share percentage to 6-8 per cent and other financial adjustments (like removal of content acquisition cost and an adjusted gross revenue) while calculating gross revenues.

    For example, Jawahar Goel, managing director of India’s biggest DTH operator (in terms of subscribers) Dish TV had written to policy-makers in October highlighting once again the industry’s woes and pleading for rationalization of costs and taxes.

    Even as India’s DTH industry has witnessed some consolidation, growth has been sluggish and ARPUs continue to be low with newer technologies throwing up additional avenues for content distribution forcing most legacy distributors to change tactics and business plans.

    Meanwhile, Khare did hint that the licensing period of DTH operators could be increased from the present 10 years. Operators like Dish TV, Tata Sky and Sun Digital, for example, are being handed by MIB interim licenses for a short period of time.

    Incidentally, telecoms and broadcast regulator TRAI in one of its recommendations had suggested increasing the DTH license period to 20 years from the present 10 years, apart from other sops like lower revenue sharing percentage and a one-time entry fee of Rs 100 million.

  • TRAI tariff issue back in Supreme Court

    TRAI tariff issue back in Supreme Court

    NEW DELHI: The twists and turns in the case of a new tariff regime being sought to be implemented by broadcast and telecoms regulator TRAI continues. It has filed a petition in the Supreme Court on the issue of 15 per cent cap on discount on a bouquet price of TV channels to consumers that had been set aside by Madras High Court while upholding TRAI’s right to regulate the broadcast sector.

    On a matter that’s complicated, TRAI’s petition, in layman’s language, exhorts the Supreme Court to set aside that portion of the high court judgement that frowns on the 15 per cent cap on discounts on bouquet prices of TV channels.   

    The Madras High Court, while upholding most of the TRAI tariff order — issued middle of 2016 and challenged by Star India and Vijay TV later that year on grounds of overstepping of jurisdiction — had struck down as arbitrary almost 18 months later the 15 per cent cap on bouquet prices.

    With the case finally disposed of by the Supreme Court earlier this year, upholding the high court’s views, TRAI had issued a notification stating that India’s broadcast and cable industry stakeholders implement its tariff regime in phases and report on compliance.

    As the final compliance deadline nears the end of the year, the new twist in the tariff tale — nudged by an appeal of Chandigarh-headquartered MSO Fastway in disputes tribunal TDSAT — may add to the ambiguity and result in further delays in signing of contracts between TV channels and distribution platforms.

    A hearing of the fresh TRAI petition is likely early next week. Keep tuned in for soap-opera type twists in the script.

  • MIB secy Amit Khare advocates self-regulation in media

    MIB secy Amit Khare advocates self-regulation in media

    MUMBAI: Making a strong case for self-regulation, Ministry of Information & Broadcasting Secretary Amit Khare today said it was a better regulatory approach for India’s media and entertainment sector.

    With the advancement as well as convergence of technologies, the government would like to have more of content self-regulation by the sector, rather than the state acting as a monitor, Khare said allaying fears that the present government would strongly push for mandated rules and regulations related to content.

    Peer pressure will serve to make self-regulation effective and ethically driven, the senior government official said while taking part in a panel discussion here on co-creation of a favourable regulatory framework for new and emerging media that had been organised by a media house. 

    Khare observed that the media and entertainment industry in India is one of the fastest growing industries and the sector sector plays an important role in job creation and providing employment to more than 1 million people. Further, for every rupee spent in the sector, there is a multiplier effect of around 2.9, he added highlighting the importance of the sector.

    Pointing out that media regulations historically have been developed more from the point of view of the medium or platform of distribution and not from the point of view of content itself, Khare said the situation has led to legacy players in print and electronic media coming under the ambit of ambit of regulation, leaving unregulated some newer media forms such as OTT services.

    Stating that the government has an open mind on regulation, the MIB official divulged that debates are on within the government whether there is a need to regulate unregulated platforms (like OTT) or whether to reduce overall regulations in the traditional sectors too. “How much regulation is required and how is it to be done, is another matter that needs to be addressed,” he added.

    According to him, FDI policies are being liberalised to make India a more investor-friendly market, but monopolies should be avoided. 

    Khare’s fellow panelists included Alok Srivastava, MD – IoT, Southeast Asia & India, CISCO, Gowree Gokhale, Senior Partner, Nishith Desai Associates law firm and Vivek Krishnani, MD, Sony Pictures Entertainment India.

  • TRAI directs DPOs to remove TV channels from landing page

    TRAI directs DPOs to remove TV channels from landing page

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday directed all distributors of TV channels and broadcasters to restrain with immediate effect from placing registered television channel, whose TV rating is released by ratings agency, on the landing page or the boot-up screen.

    The reason behind this order, according to TRAI, was to protect the interest of service providers and consumers while ensuring “orderly growth of the sector”.

    Though the TRAI diktat comes into effect immediately, the regulator has given some breather to stakeholders to become fully compliant by 31 March 2019 by making necessary changes in agreements that may have been already signed. However, distributors and TV channels have been asked to revert to the regulator with updates within seven days.

    Landing channel or landing page or landing logical channel number (LCN) refers to the default LCN that is displayed whenever a STB is switched on. TV channel placed on this page is available to all STBs connected to the network of a distributor and is regarded as a prized real estate by DPOs.

    During a consultation process on the issue, many broadcasters had admitted that placing a TV channel on the landing page could influence the audience data or TV rating points (TRPs), while MSOs and other distributors had stated there were no such influence on ratings or if any, they were minimal.

    TRPs, according to TRAI, indicate the popularity of a programme or a TV channel by providing information about the television watching habit (for example, time spent by a viewer on a particular TV channel) of viewers from different socio-economic backgrounds. In an environment that prevails in India, despite digitisation of TV services, advertisers and corporate media planners still depend on TRPs while budgeting media spend on television.

    The issue of landing page had cropped on when some stakeholders cried foul over a year back and the regulator had been forced to issue interim orders, which were challenged at the disputes tribunal TDSAT. Ministry of Information and Broadcasting too had directed BARC India , collators of audience data, to desist from including data from landing page channels for its overall weekly figures.

  • TRAI seeks stakeholders’ inputs on audience measurement overhaul

    TRAI seeks stakeholders’ inputs on audience measurement overhaul

    MUMBAI: Television audience measurement in India continues to remain one of the key subjects that evoke reactions from stakeholders. Given that advertising expenditures are typically guided by such data and, in the wake of the matter being raised at various fora, TRAI has come out with a public consultation on various facets of TV audience measurement and how the existing system could be made more robust.

    Telecom Authority of India (TRAI)’s move gains importance as stakeholders during meetings with the regulator, leading up to the present consultation, had conveyed that the present measurement system, spearheaded by a joint industry body Broadcast Audience Research Council India (BARC India), has done a credible job till now, but additional improvements could be made, including making data collection more robust and finding ways to curb panel infiltrations leading to possible manipulations. More so as the industry has already invested in the present system over the past three years and it would be improper to try find alternate mechanisms at this juncture.

    Keeping such views in mind, TRAI has raised issues relating to RPD(return path data) and whether set-top-boxes deployed in the country were technically adept at catching such figures — initiatives that would add to data robustness. The specific questions asked is: What percentage of STB supports transferring viewership data through establishing a reverse path/connection from STB? What will be the additional cost if existing STBs without return path are upgraded?

    Asking whether regulatory tweaks were needed to reduce the impact of manipulation of measurement panels — an issue red-flagged by BARC India itself in an earlier consultation — TRAI has sought comments on the country-wide panel size and also the size of the individual panels in rural and urban areas.

    The consultation paper highlights several such issues, including if BARC India, the organisation presently doing audience measurement, has been able to accomplish its purpose.

    Industry observers said though the regulator may have raised pertinent issues, some of them could be answered by the stakeholders only if they decide to take a firm view on them. For example, TRAI asks whether the present sample size of bar-o-meters employed to collect data is adequate. The answer is, maybe no. But to increase the sample size, the stakeholders need to commit more financial investments and give BARC India the go-ahead — though annually some boxes are added to live up to promises made at the time Ministry of Information and Broadcasting green-lighted the BARC project.

    The TRAI paper also seeks inputs from the stakeholders regarding shareholding/ownership pattern of BARC India and whether its credibility and neutrality can be enhanced further, while highlighting various methods of collating such data in other countries, including the US, the UK and France.

    Some of the other issues highlighted in the TRAI paper are the following:

    # Is there a need to promote competition in television rating services to ensure transparency, neutrality and fairness to give TAM rating?

    # What regulatory initiatives/measures can be taken to make TV rating services more accurate and widely acceptable?

    # Is the current audience measurement technique used by BARC apposite?

    # Does broadcasting programmes that are out of their category or in different languages for some time during the telecast affect the TAM (TV audience measurement) rating? If so, what measures should be adopted to curb it?

    # Can TV rating, based on limited panel homes, be termed as truly representative?

    # What should be done to reduce the impact of manipulation of panel home data on overall TV ratings?

    # What should be the panel size both in urban and rural India to give true representation of audience?

    # What method/technology would help to rapidly increase the panel size for television audience measurement in India? What will be the commercial challenge in implementing such solutions?

    # Should DPOs be mandated to facilitate collection of viewership data electronically, subject to consent of subscribers to increase data collection points for better TRPs?

    # What percentage of STB supports transferring viewership data through establishing a reverse path/connection from STB? What will be the additional cost if existing STBs without return path are upgraded?

    # What method should be adopted for privacy of individual information and to keep the individual information anonymous?

    # What should be the level/granularity of information retrieved by the television audience measurement agency from the panel homes so that it does not violate principles of privacy?

    # What measures need to be taken to address the issue of panel tampering/infiltration?

    # Should BARC be permitted to provide raw level data to broadcasters? If yes, how secrecy of households, where the people meters are placed, can be maintained?

    BARC India, set up in 2015, is a joint venture amongst broadcast and advertising industry bodies IBF, AAAI, ISA with Indian Broadcasting Foundation or IBF being a majority shareholder. India’s public broadcaster Prasar Bharati also sits on the BARC India board. Apart from TV audience data, BARC India is also exploring rolling out similar figures for digital platforms.

  • DoT & TRAI officials feel satcom policy needs ‘fundamental rethink’

    DoT & TRAI officials feel satcom policy needs ‘fundamental rethink’

    NEW DELHI: Two top Indian government officials from Telecom Ministry and TRAI feel the country must have a "fundamental rethink" on satellite communication policy to meet rising connectivity needs that are being fuelled by mobile data growth, digital aspirations, demand from the country’s broadcasting sector and advent of new-age technologies.

    Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan on Wednesday outlined the massive growth in mobile data consumption, driven by first-time users, and India's increasing digital clout, and said there is "no looking back" for the country when it comes to strengthening its communications infrastructure.

    She said that in an era of 5G and Internet of Things (IoT), the demand for communication infrastructure "far from slowing down, will increase exponentially".

    "We must have digital communications infrastructure that facilitates all this…We really must have a fundamental rethink on India's satcom policy in light of what are the emerging requirements and India's aspirations," Sundararajan said addressing the annual satcom summit 'India SatCom-2018' organised by Broadband India Forum (BIF), a PTI report stated.

    She further said that the demand for communication network is also being propelled by financial service industry, digital payment companies, smartphone usage and social media.

    Sundararajan noted that the draft national digital communications policy aims to provide universal broadband connectivity at 50Mbps to every citizen by 2022, create four million additional jobs, and also talks of enhancing the contribution of digital communications sector to eight per cent of India’s GDP from approximately 6 per cent now.

    "If we are to achieve robust modern digital communications infrastructure that the country needs…it has estimated the need for investment at USD 100 billion. Often, we in government are asked if that is a high figure, but I don't think so…I think this is realistic investment number in sync with our infrastructure requirements," PTI quoted her as saying.

    Stating that the country must embark on comprehensive review of its satellite communications policy, she stressed on the need to strike a balance between autonomy, security and the country's communications demand. "…it is possible to find a sweet spot between these three aspects. Other countries have done so, and I don't think it is impossible for India to strike a calibrated position keeping these three imperatives in mind…Keeping our strategic capabilities and requirements in mind, we need to look at how we can bridge the deficit in term of communication requirements," she pointed out.

    The summit also delved on various aspects of communications, including broadband connectivity to the remote parts of the country, satellite mobility, inflight connectivity, new technologies and innovations.

    Echoing sentiments similar to Sudararajan, telecom and broadcast regulator TRAI secretary SK Gupta, while addressing the valedictory session of the event, opined that “mainstreaming of satcom” issues was heartening.

    Pointing out that satellite transponder allocation process in India “needs a review” and the mechanism an “overhaul”, Gupta said that no regulatory hurdle should be created against use of any technology as satellite communication is very important for various applications and services.

    The one and half day satcom conference saw the convergence of not only ideas and trends, but also of representatives from the industry and government, including those from India’s space agency ISRO, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and BECIL.