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Category: TRAI

  • TRAI tariff: AIDCF impleads in Tata Sky, Airtel Digital pleas

    NEW DELHI: The Delhi High Court today allowed the All India Dgital Cable Federation to get impleaded in the direct-to-home platforms TataSky and Airtel Digital challenge to the Tariff and the Reference Interconnect Orderregulations.by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

    A bench headed by Chief Justice Gita Mittal listed the matter for 16 August 2017 as the Regulations come into force from 2 September 2017. The bench permitted AIDCF to make legal submissions.

    Although the cases were listed separately, the bench had on 12 May 2017 decided to hear the matters together since similar grounds had been raised and had issued notice to TRAI.

    The Court had also issued notice on an application by the two platforms seeking a stay of the tariff order.

    The petitions are seeking an order not only for setting aside these regulations, but also some sub-sections of Section 11 of the TRAI Act 1997 as being violative of the Constitution.

    The respondents are both TRAI and Union of India.

    Indiantelevision.com had earlier reported that the primary problem arises from the fact that all stakeholders will have to abide by the rates fixed by the broadcaster according to the new tariff order.

    The DTH players are agitated not only with the fact that they pay over 85 per cent of the service tax and entertainment tax in the digitised universe, but the fact that their liberty to make their own bouquets may be taken away with the broadcasters having the say in fixing rates for individual channels.

    Apart from the Tariff order which had originally been issued on 10 October last year, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations which had been issued on 14 October last year, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year.

    TRAI had first come out with a draft tariff order in October 2016 but later issued the orders on 3 March after getting the green signal from the apex court even as a Star India and Vijay TV case was pending in the Madras High Court. The broadcasters have challenged the regulations under the Copyright Act on the ground that content does not come in the ambit of TRAI.

    The Supreme Court on 8 May stayed the operation of the regulations but asked the High Court to dispose of the casewithin four weeks. The High Court has since heard arguments by all parties and has sought written submissions on 27 July 2017.

    Also Read:

    Tata Sky-Airtel case: HC asks TRAI to file reply before 25 July 

  • TRAI Net Neutrality OHD in Bengaluru on 25 July

    NEW DELHI: An Open House Discussion has been slated in Bengaluru later this month on the Telecom Regulatory Authority’s pre-consultation paper on Net Neutrality which had been issued in mid-2016.

    The OHD will be held on 25 July after which the authority will begin work on its final recommendations.

    In a pre-consultation paper on Net Neutrality to ensure national security and customer privacy issued on 30 May 2016, the regulator had asked what should be regarded as the core principles of net neutrality in the Indian context and what key issues are required to be considered so that the principles of net neutrality are ensured.

    The regulator has also asked what the reasonable traffic management practices that may need to be followed by telecom service providers should be while providing internet access services and whether there any other current or potential practices in India that may give rise to concerns about net neutrality or its misuse.

    Stakeholders have been asked about the precautions with respect to the activities of TSPs and content providers to ensure that national security interests are preserved, and customer privacy is maintained.

    The regulator says it had issued a paper on 27 March last year and after much discussion among stakeholders and the government, the Department of Telecom had asked TRAI certain questions leading to the present paper.

    At the outset, TRAI says that during the last decade, the telecom industry in India has grown tremendously, both in terms of penetration as well as connectivity. Today, India is one of the fastest growing information and communication technologies markets in the world, fueled largely by the cellular mobile revolution. Starting from a few million connections in 1997, there are more than a billion connections, with 97.5 per cent of them being wireless subscribers. With this, the overall teledensity in India at the end of 2015 stood at 81.83 per cent.

    India has also witnessed tremendous growth in terms of the total number of Internet users. At the end of December 2015, there were over 331 million internet subscribers in the country, of which about 94 per cent (over 311 million) were wireless internet users.

  • Wi-fi Hotspots: Architecture and Specification document released by TRAI

    NEW DELHI: A “Public Wifi Pilot” laying the foundation for setting up nationwide public wifi network with the help of public data officers (PDOs) has been issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

    The aim of this effort is to help set up large number of public wi-fi hotspots across the country on a scale similar to what has been done in most of the developed countries.

    This will not only increase worldwide availability of data to the consumers but will also improve India’s overall ranking in the data usage. Interested entities are requested to submit their willingness to TRAI by 25 July 2017.

    TRAI said the telecom industry is seeing rapid transformation through drop in data prices, increased speed, and increased consumption of data packs. India is also creating a slew of digital platforms to help its citizens with better access to various services.

    According to reports, Indians consumed more cellular data than China, and as much as the US in the current cellular data pricing regime. TRAI believes that by adopting an Open Architecture approach, emphasis on innovation and consumer experience is placed as the winning criteria.

    This network architecture is built around an Open Architecture based Wi-Fi Access Network Interface {WANI} that facilitates participation of PDO providers, access point hardware/software providers, application providers etc. There could be any number of entities participating in the network making it truly unbundled and open architecture, as mentioned in the pilot document released on 7 July 2017.

    The document entitled “Open Wi-fi Framework- Architecture & specification (version 0.5)” represents an exciting opportunity to achieve for data exactly what PCOs did for Long Distance Calling. It will bring a new generation of users and entrepreneurs into the market to bridge the need of last mile connectivity. The opportunities created are immense and will benefit 100’s of millions of users in India waiting to get affordable access to Internet.

    A statement by TRAI said the regulator was overwhelmed with the response received from a number of startup companies for participating in this pilot project for the nationwide wi-fi network.

  • Star Vijay case in Madras HC: TRAI to conclude arguments today, AIDCF & Videocon to argue tomorrow

    MUMBAI: In the Star-Vijay-TRAI case hearing in the Madras High Court, one of the TRAI’s senior counsel P Wilson concluded his arguments on Wednesday. The other TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) counsel Saket Singh is expected to put forth his arguments on Thursday, official sources told Indiantelevision.com

    Interveners in the case — All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) and Videocon hope to put forth their arguments on Friday. And, on Friday itself, the Madras High Court would provide a rejoinder date — for the final outcome and directive in the case that challenged the jurisdiction of TRAI to issue tariff orders on the ground that content came under the Copyright Act.

    TRAI TV reference interconnect offer (RIO) and Quality of service order (QoS) came into effect from 2 May following the order of the high court.

    In the hearing in April-end, it had said Section 3 of the Tariff order and all other consequences of such implementation/enforcement would be subject to the outcome of the main petition.
     
    Apart from the Tariff order, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year.

    Also Read:

    Star-TRAI case hearing in Madras High Court starts 

    Star & Vijay TV amend plea, TRAI asked by Madras HC to file response

    SC stays new TRAI tariff, asks Madras HC to complete hearing in four weeks

     

  • After DTT, TRAI launches exercise on digital radio broadcasting

    NEW DELHI: Even as it noted that All-India Radio is active in implementation of digital radio in MW and SW bands, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has noted that there appears to be no initiative in FM radio space either by public or private FM radio broadcasters.

    Since FM is primarily used for analogue transmission, it appears as if the frequency allocations under these policy guidelines are only for analogue transmission. Analogue FM technology can provide only one channel per frequency. Therefore, existing FM radio channels provide limited services to their listeners. In addition, analogue radio broadcasting is facing competition from emerging technologies and other platforms like webcasting, podcasting and internet streaming etc.

    In view of this, the TRAI has suo moto issued a consultation paper on Issues related to digital radio broadcasting in India. Stakeholders have been asked to respond to the various questions raised by TRAI by 4 September with counter-comments if any by 18 September 2017.

    Late last year, TRAI had commenced a similar exercise in digital terrestrial television. Interestingly, both DTT and digital radio broadcasting have been the domain so far of the pubcaster Prasar Bharati.

    At the outset, TRAI has noted that radio is a prevalent source for providing entertainment, information and education to the masses due to its wide coverage, portability, low set-up cost and affordability.

    At present, terrestrial radio coverage in India is available in Frequency Modulation (FM) mode and Amplitude Modulation (AM) mode (Short Wave and Medium Wave). All India Radio (AIR) along with private sector radio broadcasters are providing terrestrial radio broadcast services throughout the country transmitting programs in AM and FM frequency bands.

    AIR has 420 radio stations (AM & FM) that cover almost 92 per cent of the country by area and more than 99.20% of the country’s population. Private sector radio broadcasters transmit programmes in FM mode only and presently operate through 293 radio stations. Private sector radio broadcasters are licensed to operate in FM frequency band (88-108 MHz).

    In Phase-I of FM Radio, the government auctioned 108 FM radio channels in 40 cities. Out of these, only 21 FM radio channels became operational and subsequently migrated to Phase-II in 2005. Phase-II of FM Radio commenced in 2005 when a total of 337 channels were put on bid across 91 cities having population equal to or more than 300,000. Of 337 channels, 222 channels became operational. At the end of Phase-II, 243 FM Radio channels were operational in 86 cities.

    In Phase-III expansion of FM radio, 966 FM radio channels are to be made available in 333 cities. In the first batch of Phase-III, 135 private FM Radio channels in 69 cities were auctioned in 2015. Out of these, 96 FM Radio channels in 55 cities have been successfully auctioned.

    In the second batch of Phase-III, 266 private FM Radio channels in 92 cities were auctioned in 20162. Out of these, 66 FM Radio channels in 48 cities have been successfully auctioned3. As on 31st March 2017, 293 FM radio stations have been made operational in 84 cities by 32 private FM Radio broadcasters.

    In order to encourage radio broadcasting for the specific sections of society, the government has allowed setting up of Community Radio Stations (CRS). CRS typically broadcast in FM band with low power transmitters restricting its coverage to the local community within approx 10 KM. There are 206 operational CRS at present.

    Radio signals on FM are presently transmitted in analogue mode in the country. Analogue terrestrial radio broadcasting when compared with digital mode is inefficient and suffers with operational restrictions as discussed below:

    Transmission in analogue mode is susceptible to Radio Frequency (RF) interference resulting in poorer reception quality.

    Only one channel per transmitter is possible.

    Spectrally inefficient as frequency reuse is limited and radio channels require more spectrum per channel.

    Signal quality may suffer in portable environment such as moving vehicles and on handheld devices.

    No flexibility to provide any Value Added Service

    Digital radio broadcasting has existed since quiet sometime around the world. The International Telecommunications Union (ITU) recommendations have described four major standards for broadcast of digital radio which are DAB, ISDB-TSB, HD Radio and DRM.

    Countries around the world are moving towards digital radio broadcasting by drawing the roadmap for switchover to digitisation broadcasting on the selected digital radio broadcasting standard.

    In keeping with the pace of deployment of digital radio around the globe, the government in 2010 took a decisive step forward for transition from analogue radio services of AIR to digital mode of transmission. AIR conducted rigorous trials over the years and adopted the Digital Radio Mondiale (DRM) standard for low frequency band (MW and SW). It has initiated digitization of its MW and SW radio network in three phases. It has recently concluded phase-I of digitisation of its network with deployment of 37 digital (DRM) transmitters throughout the country, which are now operational and is now in the process of launching phase-II of the DRM project by offering full features/services from these DRM transmitters and further improving service quality. In phase-III, AIR, will complete transition of its radio services to the digital DRM platform, further improving the number and quality of radio services and extra features for the listeners, while also saving large amounts of transmission power every year.

    According to Policy Guidelines for Phase-III expansion of FM Radio broadcasting services through private agencies of 25 July 2011 issued by the Information and Broadcasting Ministry, the maximum number of FM radio channels permitted in Category A+, Category A, Category B, Category C and Category D including ‘Others’ cities are 9, 6, 4, 4 and 3, respectively.

    The questions posed by TRAI are:
    Is there a need to encourage or facilitate introduction of digital radio transmission at present? If so, what measures do you suggest and in which market?

    Is there a need to frame a roadmap for migration to digital radio broadcasting for private FM broadcasters? If yes, which approach, mentioned in para 4.7, should be adopted? Please give your suggestions with justification.

    Should the date for digital switch over for radio broadcasting in India need to be declared? If yes, please suggest the date with suitable justification. If no, please give reason to support your view.

    Is present licensing framework or regulatory framework is restrictive for migration to digital radio broadcasting? Please explain with justification.

    Should single digital radio technology be adopted for entire country or choice of technology should be left to radio broadcasters? Support your reply with Justification.

    In case a single digital radio broadcast technology is to be adopted for the entire country, which technology should be adopted for private FM radio broadcasting? Please give your suggestions with detailed justification.

    How issues of interference and allocation of appropriate spectrum allocation can be settled in case the option to choose technology is left to radio broadcasters?

    Should the permission for operating FM channel be delinked from technology used for radio broadcasting? If yes, please provide a detailed framework with justification.

    Should the existing operational FM radio channels be permitted to migrate to digital broadcasting within assigned radio frequency? If yes, should there be any additional charges as number of available channels in digital broadcasting will increase? Please provide a detailed framework for migration with justification.

    Should the future auction of remaining FM channels of Phase-III be done delinking it from technology adopted for radio broadcasting? Please give your suggestions with detailed justification.

    In case future auction of remaining FM channels of Phase-III is done delinking it from technology, should the present auction process be continued? If no, what should be the alternate auction process? Please give your suggestions with detailed justification.

    What modifications need to be done in FM radio policy to use allocated FM radio channels in technology neutral manner for radio broadcasting?

    What measures should be taken to reduce the prices of digital radio receivers and develop ecosystem for migration to digital radio broadcasting?

  • Wi-Fi: TRAI plans to set up ‘open’ WANI, seeks inter-operable, sachet-priced model

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a document inviting participation of entities to be part of a Pilot to establish Nation-wide Public Data Offices (PDOs). Any interested entity (company, proprietorship, societies, non-profits, etc.) registered in India can apply to TRAI latest by 25 July 2017.

    The Internet is the single most self-empowering infrastructure available for a citizen in the 21st century. The World Bank observed that a 10% increase in Internet penetration leads to a 1.4% increase in GDP. Access to the Internet is considered a basic human right by many countries globally, including Estonia, Finland and France. In India, access to data is still limited due to poor coverage of fiber & telecom and prohibitive pricing of cellular data. Public Wi-Fi hotspots hold an important place in the last-mile delivery of broadband to users. It allows offloading telecom networks to ease congestion, and will be crucial when the next billion loT devices come online.

    Based on the recommendation of TRAI on “Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks” issued on 9 March 2017, TRAI invites all interested entities to be a part of a Pilot to establish nation-wide, pay-as-you-go PDOs.

    The vision of this initiative is to establish an Open Architecture based Wi-Fi Access Network Interface (WANI), such that;

    • Any entity (company, proprietorship, societies, non-profits, etc.) should easily be able to setup a paid public Wi-Fi Access Point:

    • Users should be able to easily discover WANI compliant SSIDs, do one click authentication and payment, and connect one or more devices in single session.

    • The experience for a small entrepreneur to purchase, self-register, set-up and operate a PDO must be simple, low-touch and maintenance-free.

    • The products available for consumption should begin from “sachet-sized”, i.e. low denominations ranging from Rs 2 to Rs 20, etc.

    • Providers (PDO provider, Access Point hardware/software, user authentication and KYC provider, and payment provider) are unbundled to eliminate silos and closed systems. This allows multiple parties in the ecosystem to come together and enable large scale adoption.

    Objectives of the pilot are:

    • Demonstrate that unbundling of services reduces rework, speeds up development and hence is the most effective way to tackle this complex problem.

    • Prove that Multi-provider, inter-operable, collaborative model increases the overall innovation in the system, dismantles monopolies and encourages passing of benefits to end user.

    • Test the specifications in real life conditions, and suggest improvements.

    • Jointly develop a business model that fairly allocates value to each provider.

    • Fine tune the technology and finalize the specifications based on pilot.

    • Test out integrated paymernt methods such as coupons (purchased usmg cash by user or gifted to user), credit/debit cards, net banking, e-wallets, and UPI.

  • Broadband speed: TRAI extends ideas date to 20 July

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has extended the date for inputs of stakeholders on ensuring transparency and customer awareness regarding data speeds under wireless broadband plans to 20 July with counter-comments by 5 August 2017.

    TRAI had issued a consultation paper on Data Speed under Wireless Broadband Plans for which the last date was 29 June for responses.

    However, TRAI said it was extending the date as this issue involved several technical, network and business issues.

    The paper issued on 1 June 2017 had said wireless access networks are the main source of delivering broadband in the country. Global mobile subscriptions are growing around 5 percent year-on-year. The Ericsson’s mobility report said India grew the most in terms of net additions during the third quarter of 2016 by adding 15 million connections. These figures have increased substantially in the last few quarters. Out of the total 236.09 million broadband subscribers in the country as of 31 December, 2016 approximately 92.32% i.e. 217.95 million subscribers are through wireless access.

    According to a GSMA report titled ‘The Mobile Economy, India, 2016’, at the end of June 2016, 616 million unique users subscribed to mobile services in India, making it the second largest mobile market in the world. Almost half the country’s population now subscribes to a mobile service.

    The report suggests that improving affordability; falling device prices and better network coverage aided by operator investment will help deliver over 330 million new unique subscribers by 2020, taking the penetration rate to 68 per cent. It further adds that as more users migrate to high-speed broadband, mobile data traffic is expected to grow 12-fold between 2015 and 2020, at a CAGR of 63 per cent.

    Data usage by GSM users has already shown an unprecedented growth in the recent months from an average usage of 236MB per month in September, 2016 to 884 MB per month in December, 2016. Along with this, the composition of revenues earned by operators is also changing. Mobile operators in India have so far reported limited revenue contribution from data services, generating 17 per cent of service revenues at the end of 2015. This is forecast to increase to 23 per cent by 2020.

    The paper listed nine questions for the stakeholders:

    Q1: Is the information on wireless broadband speeds currently being made available to consumers is transparent enough for making informed choices?

    Q2: If it is difficult to commit a minimum download speed, then could average speed be specified by the service providers? What should be the parameters for calculating average speed?

    Q3: What changes can be brought about to the existing framework on wireless broadband tariff plans to encourage better transparency and comparison between plans offered by different service providers?

    Q4: Is there a need to include/delete any of the QoS parameters and/or revise any of the benchmarks currently stipulated in the Regulations?

    Q5: Should disclosure of average network performance over a period of time or at peak times including through broadband facts/labels be made mandatory?

    Q6: Should standard application/ websites be identified for mandating comparable disclosures about network speeds?

    Q7: What are the products/technologies that can be used to measure actual end-user experience on mobile broadband networks? At what level should the measurements take place (e.g., on the device, network node)?

    Q8: Are there any legal, security, privacy or data sensitivity issues with collecting device level data?

    a) If so, how can these issues be addressed?

    b) Do these issues create a challenge for the adoption of any measurement tools?

    Q9: What measures can be taken to increase awareness among consumers about wireless broadband speeds, availability of various technological tools to monitor them and any potential concerns that may arise in the process?

  • Star-TRAI case hearing in Madras High Court starts

    NEW DELHI: Final hearing commenced in the petition by Star India and Vijay TV challenging the jurisdiction of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to issue tariff orders on the ground that content came under the Copyright Act.

    Although the Supreme Court had in early May while staying the tariff order directed the Madras High Court to complete hearing within four weeks, the high court had earlier this month listed matter to come up for today.

    Heeding the directive of the apex court to hear the matter on a day-to-day basis, the hearing which commenced today will continue for another two or three days until it is concluded.

    The hearing in the court was today confined to hearing the counsel for Star India who is expected to continue tomorrow as well. This will be followed by counsel of the TRAI and the Union of India.

    Meanwhile, TRAI TV reference interconnect offer (RIO) and Quality of service order (QoS) came into effect from 2 May following the order of the High Court.

    Although the high court chief justice Indira Banerjee and Justice M Sundar had listed the matter for 12 June, it issued directions before that date that the matter would come up today (on Tuesday).

    In the hearing in April-end, it had said Section 3 of the Tariff order and all other consequences of such implementation/enforcement would be subject to the outcome of the main petition.

    Apart from the Tariff order which had originally been issued on 10 October last year, the regulator also issued the DAS Interconnect Regulations which had been issued on 14 October last year, and the Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations which had been issued on 10 October last year.

    The orders can be seen at:
    http://trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Tariff_Order_English_3%20March_20…
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/QOS_Regulation_03_03_2017.pdf
    http://www.trai.gov.in/sites/default/files/Interconnection_Regulation_03…

    Also Read:

    Decks cleared for TRAI tariff order implementation as HC declines stay (updated)

    Star India case questioning TRAI jurisdiction over content postponed 

  • Energy-efficient ideas: TRAI meet in Delhi on 5 July

    NEW DELHI: An open house discussion is being held in Delhi early next month following responses received by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to its Consultation Paper on Approach towards Sustainable Telecommunications. The OHD will be held on 5 July 2017 on the paper which had been issued on 17 January 2017.

    Later, TRAI had given extra time to stakeholders wanting to give suggestions to the efforts towards the effect of telecom on climate change and green house gas emissions, extending the date from 27 February to 14 March 2017 with counter-comments by 26 March. Following a request received from the Department of Telecom, TRAI had issued the Consultation Paper raising 14 questions.

    TRAI had issued a paper on similar issues in 2012 and the DoT had in fact given directions on that basis, but new issues have cropped up with emerging technologies.

    India has the second largest and fastest growing mobile telephone market in the world. Power and energy consumption for telecom network operations is by far the most important significant contributor of carbon emissions in the telecom industry.

    Hence, it is important for the telecom operators to shift to energy efficient technologies and alternate sources of energy. Moreover, Going Green has also become a business necessity for telecom operators with energy costs becoming as large as 25 per cent of total network operations costs. A typical communications company spends nearly one per cent of its revenues on energy which for large operators may amount to several million rupees.

    Also Read: Shift to energy-efficient tech; TRAI seeks ideas by 27 Feb

  • Star India case questioning TRAI jurisdiction over content postponed

    MUMBAI: Unmindful of the Supreme Court directive to dispose of the case in four weeks, the hearing of the dispute between Star India and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in the Madras High Court has been postponed to 27 June.

    It has been learnt that court will not be sitting around this time and the judges would not be able to give time to the case before the new date.

    Although, the matter was scheduled to be heard on 12 June, arguments and judgement in the dispute concerning the constitutionality of TRAI’s orders will now witness further delay.

    The Supreme Court had earlier granted a stay on TRAI’s new tariff orders. The apex court had asked the Madras High Court to complete the hearing within four weeks. The case was scheduled to be heard on a day-to-day basis from 12 June.

    The broadcasters had challenged the order of TRAI on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction over content, and that actually came under Copyright Act, which is not administered by TRAI.