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Category: TRAI

  • TRAI advises govt to aid TV infra sharing, ease ‘permissions’

    NEW DELHI: The Central Government should encourage sharing of infrastructure, wherever technically feasible, in TV broadcasting distribution network services, on voluntary basis including sharing of head-end used for cable TV services and transport streams transmitting signals of TV channels, among MSOs.

    In its recommendation to infrastructure sharing in the broadcasting sector, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said the MSO registration condition regarding ‘having an independent digital head-end of his own and provide digital addressable cable services from his head-end’ should be suitably amended so as to enable sharing of head-end.

    The Headend-in-the-sky (HITS) or the MSOs should be allowed to share the HITS platforms on voluntary basis, in flexible ways, for distribution of TV channels. The sharing of transport streams transmitted by HITS platform, between HITS operators and MSOs should be permitted.

    Direct-to-Home operators willing to share DTH platform and transport stream of TV channels, on voluntary basis should be allowed to do so with prior written intimation to the Information and Broadcasting Ministry and TRAI to ensure efficient use of scarce satellite resources.

    The distributors of TV channels should be permitted to share the common hardware for their Subscriber Management Systems applications and Conditional Access Systems applications.

    While sharing the infrastructure with another distributor of TV channels, the
    responsibility of compliance to the relevant Acts/ rules/ regulations/ lic·ense/ orders/ directions/ guidelines would continue to be of each distributor of TV channels independently.

    The recommendations are the result of a reference from the Ministry of 29 April 2016. The Ministry had also sought recommendation of the Authority on the amendment that may be required in the Cable TV Networks (Regulation) Act 1995 and Rules made thereunder to facilitate the infrastructure sharing.

    The Authority examined the issues in sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector comprehensively for all types of predominant TV broadcasting distribution networks. TRAI undertook a comprehensive consultation with the stakeholders by issuing pre-consultation paper, consultation paper, and conducting an open house discussion with them before finalizing its recommendations on “Sharing of Infrastructure in Television Broadcasting Distribution Sector”.

    At the outset, TRAI said TV broadcasting sector has witnessed tremendous growth in the last decade. There has been an exponential increase in the number of satellite TV channels.

    The objectives of the recommendations are to ease policy environment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector on voluntary basis. The sharing of the infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector would not only help in enhancing available distribution network capacities but also would result in reduced Capital Expenditure (CAPEX) and Operative Expenditure (OPEX) for the service providers thereby bringing down the price of broadcasting services to subscribers.

    In addition, it would lower the entry barrier for new service providers and provide space on broadcasting distribution networks for niche channels- necessary for satisfying the diverse needs of general public – to reach targeted customers. Lowering of entry barriers in the distribution space could propel competition in the market and more choices to consumers due to presence of multiple operators in single territory.

  • TRAI extends tariff regulations execution date, Madras High court arguments to continue

    NEW DELHI: Following the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s request that its tariff regulations which were slated to come into effect on 2 April were being deferred to 2 May 2017, Star India and Vijay TV decided not to press for their pleas  in view of the ongoing case in Madras hIgh Court.

    The  regulator In a letter submitted to the court its counsel Richard Wilson and signed by by TRAI Secretary Sudhir Gupta, stated that this was being done in view of certain ambiguities raised by some stakehlolders.

    The Court was told that a formal notice about this would be released in due course.
    The broadcasters had filed the application on the plea of the deadline set by TRAI.

     Meanwhile, the Court fixed the matter for further hearing on 3 April even as TRAI counsel commenced his arguments following the conclusion of the arguments by the broadcasters over two days commencing last Friday.

    After TRAI counsel concludes his arguments next week, the Court will hear counsel of All India Digital Cable Federation which been impleaded in the matter.

    Earlier on 3 March, the regulator had issued the three regulations after getting a directive from the Supreme Court on its appeal against a stay granted by the Madras High Court. While granting the appeal, the apex Court also asked the High Court to conclude hearing in sixty days.
    The petition had been filed by Star India and Vijay TV under the Copyright Act on the ground that TRAI could not give any directives that will affect the content since that did not fall in its purview.

    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_2017.pdf
    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_mar_2917.pdf

    Follwing these regulations, the broadcasters had filed an amended petition and TRAI had also replied to the same last week.

    Concluding his arguments for the broadcasters, senior counsel P Chidambaram argued that TRAI’s action of fixing tariff for TV content was in violation of the Copyright Act. He also submitted that TRAI did not have the jurisdiction to fix tariff since the exploitation of IPR was part of the Copyright Act.

    Also read:

    Star-Vijay Copyright case hearing next week, TRAI to file counter

  • TRAI rejects complaint against free promos, says consumer comes first

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Commission’s contention that free promotional offers are responsible for the industry’s falling financial health and lower licence fee payments to the government has been rejected by the regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India.

    TRAI’s response is expected to be sent to the Commission next week.

    The response to the Commission’s letter dated 23 February 2017 on the lines that tariff and tariff orders, solely under the regulator’s purview, need to be seen in the broader context of consumer interest.

    TRAI feels it is responsible for tariffs and anyone having an objection is free to approach the telecom tribunal TDSAT, TRAI sources said.

    In any event, TRAI feels that the government’s objective cannot be revenue maximisation. Higher tariffs can lead to greater accruals for the government from licence fee, but there is social obligation. So, revenue reduction should not been seen with a myopic view, but in the context of larger policy objectives and long—term interest of consumers, the sources said.

    Stressing that competition in the telecom sector had resulted in better tariffs and services for consumers, the source said, “competition may be disruptive, but it also leads to cheaper tariffs for consumers“.

    Defending its stance on allowing Reliance Jio to extend the promotional offers, the source said, “TRAI had sought the Attorney General’s opinion on the matter, and the latter has also opined that TRAI was correct in not blocking the offers“.

    Last month, the inter—ministerial body Telecom Commission in a letter to TRAI had warned of a loan default by operators and asked the regulator to revisit its tariff orders and free promotional offers of firms like Reliance Jio.

    The then Telecom Secretary J S Deepak, who headed the Telecom Commission, had written to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman R S Sharma about the “serious impact” of promotional offers on the financial health of the sector and the capability of the companies to meet their contractual commitments, including payment of instalments for spectrum purchased, and repayment of loans.

    Reliance Jio rolled out free voice and data under two promotional offers — Jio Welcome Offer and the Happy New Year offer.

    The Telecom Commission’s letter had noted that licence fee collections for the current fiscal have been showing “alarming” downward trend on a quarter—to—quarter basis.

    “These collections have fallen from Rs 39.75 billion in Q1 to Rs 35.84 billion in Q2 to Rs Rs 31.86 billion in Q3. It is expected that this revenue will further decline in Q4 by about 8 to10 per cent. The annual spectrum usage charge revenues are also likely to face a similar decline,” the TC letter had said.

  • TRAI issues new consultation paper on VNO

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, which had in May 2015 recommended that Virtual Network Operators (VNO) in the telecom sector should be permitted for all segments of voice, data and video as well as for all services notified in the unified license (UL) for a period of ten years, is now working on providing recommendations for Access Service authorization for category B license with districts of a State as a service area.

    The Department of Telecom had issued guidelines on 5 July 2016 for authorization for Access service in a Secondary Switching Areas (SSAs) as service area is in addition to the TRAI recommendations of May 2015. These guidelines are meant to introduce UL (VNO) Cat-B with Access Service authorization in a District of a State/UT. DoT further clarified vide their letter dated 12 September 2016 that there shall be no category of Direct Inward Dialing (DID) franchisee License in future.  At present, there are 259 franchisees operating in the country.

    TRAI says that it appears that the objective of the guidelines/licenses issued by DoT is to streamline DID franchisee regime and provide them a better and broader business umbrella through proper licensing. It is evident that the guidelines/license conditions were not a part of TRAI’s recommendations on the subject and DoT has first issued these guidelines/ licenses and then sent the reference for the recommendations of the Authority on the matter

    Resultantly, the regulator has issued a new consultation paper with ten questions for stakeholders. Stakeholders are to respond on 17 April with counter comments if any on 24 April 2017.

    The regulator had in its recommendations said VNO should be introduced through proper “licensing framework” in the Indian telecom sector. For introduction of VNO in the sector, there should be a separate category of license namely UL (VNO). Like UL authorization, only pan-India or service area-wise authorizations may be granted under a UL (VNO) license.

    TRAI said that VNOs are service delivery operators, who do not own the underlying core network but rely on the network and support of the infrastructure providers for providing telecom services to end users and customers.

    VNOs can provide any or all telecom services, which are being provided by the existing telecom service providers.

    VNO should be introduced in the network based on the basis of mutually accepted  terms and conditions between NSO and the VNO. The terms and conditions of sharing the infrastructure between the NSO and VNO are left to the market to determine.

    VNOs should be permitted to set up their own   network equipment where there is no requirement of interconnection with other NSO.  However, they should not be allowed to own/install equipment where interconnection is required with another NSO.

    Local Cable Operators (LCOs) and Multi Service Operators (MSOs) can become VNO and are permitted to share infrastructure with VNOs.

    TRAI had said that there should not be a restriction on the number of VNO licensees per service area and there should be no restriction on the number of VNOs parented by an NSO.

    The paper is available on

     

  • TRAI chief pushes for b’band over cable TV, BharatNet for upping penetration

    NEW DELHI: Pointing out that initiatives such as broadband over cable and government’s OFC project BharatNet are important to increase broadband penetration, TRAI chairman RS Sharma has called for aggressively boosting India’s data connectivity profile as the country lags way behind many Asian countries on this score.

    According to Sharma, India’s data connectivity ranking was below Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Singapore, and way below the 46 per cent of average data connectivity level worldwide.

    “Indian telcos have delivered ubiquitous voice connectivity at affordable rates, but data connectivity remains a pain-point with the country ranked at 138 among the 175-odd countries, which is even below many African countries and island nations,” the Economic Times quoted Sharma from his keynote address at the ET Telecom India Mobile Congress last Friday.

    Highlighting the proactive nature of the regulator in giving fillip to broadband penetration, Sharma said the sector regulator has already recommended deployment of cable TV infrastructure for beefing up broadband, especially since 100 million homes already have cable connections. More recently, it has advocated freeing up new spectrum bands to ring in affordable Wi-Fi services in public places, the ET report stated, adding the chief regulator revealed the Department of Electronics & IT (DeitY) and the telecom department (DoT) were jointly initiating “a pilot program to offer affordable Wi-Fi, affordable Wi-Fi connectivity with free localized content“.

    Asserting that the national broadband project BharatNet would see significant acceleration in the coming months, the ET report quoted Sharma as saying the project could play a key role in boosting India’s overall data connectivity profile if implemented through the public-private partnership model as suggested by TRAI.

    Responding to a query on high spectrum costs in India, Sharma said the regulator had advocated a “pay-as-you-go model” for spectrum payouts to ease fiscal pains for telcos.

    Going forward, the sector regulator, according to the report, may also suggest that mobile virtual network operators (MVNOs) be allowed to partner with multiple telcos, which would give consumers more choice for voice and data services and also allowing telcos more options to monetize unused airwaves.

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

    NEW DELHI: The Madras High Court today decided to hear on 24 March the case by  Star India and Vijay TV alleging that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India tariff and other orders allegedly were in conflict with Copyright Act 1957.

    This development came after the HC allowed an amended application from petitioners to be filed, which, according to industry sources, broadly states that TRAI regulations involving tariff, etc are bad in law.

    Following the Supreme Court directive of 16 February 2017 on an appeal permitting TRAI to issue its tariff and other orders even as the case would continue in the High Court, both the broadcasters had filed an amended petition. The court also directed TRAI to file its reply by Wednesday next.

    TRAI had issued three regulations, including one on tariff on 16 January 2017, the day the Supreme Court gave its clearance.

    The broadcasters had sought to argue that the TRAI orders are in conflict with the Copyright Act 1957. As a result of that court order and pending the full hearing of the case, TRAI would not be able to pass any guideline for issues such as broadcast tariff, broadcast interconnect, and quality of services. The temporary stay by Madras HC was over-ruled by SC later.

    It is also expected that a final judgment on the case could come about by 3 April 2017 in the Madras HC, if not before that date.

    Last year, TRAI had issued draft guidelines on tariff interconnect and quality of service, and TRAI chairman RS Sharma had then told indiantelevision.com that the regulator would come out with its final recommedation by the end of 2016.

    It may be recalled that the Indian Broadcasting Foundation (IBF) had also said in reaction to the TRAI drafts that the exercise was in direct conflict with the provisions of the Indian Copyright Act.

    The comments had been stated in a submission to the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) Interconnection (Addressable Systems) Regulations 2016; the Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable Services) (Eighth) (Addressable Systems) Tariff Order 2016; and the Standards of Quality of Service) and Consumer Protection (Digital Addressable Systems) Regulations 2016.

    The All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF), which had made itself party to the case after being allowed by the Madras High Court, till the time of writing this report had not yet made up its mind whether to further join issues with petitoners’ amended application in Madras High Court.

    Also read

    Maintain status quo on broadcast guidelines, Madras HC tells TRAI

  • Net neutrality: TRAI open to ideas till 12 April

    NEW DELHI: A second extension has been given to stakeholders to give their views on the crucial issue of net neutrality, on which a consultation paper had been issued by theTelecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on 4 January, 2017,

    Those wanting to give their views on this subject may do so by 12 April with counter comments if any by 26 April 2017.

    Earlier, the date of 15 February 2017 had been extended to 15 March 2017. The regulator made it clear that no further extension would be given.

    The aim is to establish a comprehensive framework that allows non-discriminatory access to the internet since net neutrality has been a subject of debate between content providers and telecom operators.

    TRAI  posed 14 questions that attempt to define the concept of net neutrality in the Indian context in a 65-page document. This follows a pre-consultation paper on the subject last May. The aim is to ensure that access is not, blocked, throttled or preferentially treated by service providers.

    “The purpose of this second stage of consultation is to proceed towards the formulation of final views on policy or regulatory interventions, where required, on the subject of NN (net neutrality),” Trai said in the paper.

    The paper said telecom service providers (TSPs) have to adopt traffic management practices to ensure network efficiency but that these should not be misused.

    Also Read:

    TRAI issues fresh paper seeking views on Net Neutrality definition

    Net Neutrality ideas date open till 28 Feb

  • TRAI seeks ideas on spectrum trading, services via satellite, M&A etc. by 11 April

    MUMBAI: Indian telecom regulator TRAI has sought inputs from stakeholders on “Ease of Doing Telecom Business in India”.

    Promoting “ease of doing business” is amongst the priority work items for unhindered growth of the telecom sector. A number of steps have already been taken for ease of doing business. Steps like adoption of market based spectrum management such as assignment of spectrum through auction, permitting spectrum trading, spectrum sharing and liberalisation of administratively assigned spectrum, Unified Licensing regime, Merger and Acquisition guidelines, Virtual Network Operation etc. have been guided by the principles of “ease of doing business”.

    The stakeholders have been requested to provide inputs with detailed explanation and justification by 11 April 2017. On receipt of the inputs, TRAI will analyse them and if required, take further necessary action for simplification of processes.

    Further, the Authority is of the opinion that various processes that  a telecom licensee is required to go through, should be simplified and combined to the extent possible to economise on efforts on part of the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) as well as the Government. Therefore, it is important to identify the bottlenecks, obstacles or hindrances that are making it difficult to do telecom business in India and thus, require regulatory intervention. 

    Some of these processes could be:

    Related to Unified Licence

    * Acquiring Unified Licence, Compliance of various general / commercial /
    technical / financial / operating / commercial conditions.

    * Adding new authorisations in the UL

    * Surrendering any authorisation within the scope of UL or surrender of UL.

    * Compliance of roll-out obligations

    * Payment of Licence Fee, FBG/PBG and the release of bank guarantee, whenever due.

    * Any other issue

    Spectrum Allotment and use

    * Assignment of spectrum to the successful bidder by WPC

    * SACFA Clearance Process

    * Spectrum Trading approval process settlement of dues etc.

    * Spectrum Sharing process 

    * Liberalisation of spectrum process

    * Any other issue

    Provision of telecom services using Satellite media 

    * Clearances from INSAT Network Operations Control
    Center (NOCC)

    * Obtaining SACFA clearance and clearance from other
    authorities

    * Any other issue

    Merger and Acquisition Policy

    In addition, there can be processes in other areas which may be requiring simplification. In view of the above, the stakeholders are requested to identify such areas of concern and review the existing processes and suggest mechanisms that ease the business activity.

  • Green telecom: TRAI again extends time for ideas

    NEW DELHI: In addition to an extension earlier, stakeholders wanting to give suggestions to the Telecom Regulatory Authority’s efforts towards the effect of telecom on climate change and green house gas emissions have been asked to send in their views by 3 April 2017. Stressing that no further extension would be given, TRAI has said the counter-comments can be sent by 17 April 2017.

    The Consultation Paper on Approach towards Sustainable Telecommunications in mid-January this year with a date of responses set for 13 February 2017 which was extended to 14 March. The paper issued following a request from the Department of Telecom raised 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% of total network operations costs. A typical communications company spends nearly 1% 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

  • Guest Column: TRAI’s radical tariff & interconnect norms will usher in major changes

    At the onset one must appreciate the efforts put in by the TRAI in coming out with path-breaking orders involving tariff, services inter-connection and quality of services. The effort of the regulator is clearly to increase choice in the hands of consumers to pay for what they want to watch.

    The TRAI guidelines are aimed at encouraging moving away from a push-based model to a pull-based one where demand and supply will be the deciding factors. Still, it’s a known fact that consumers themselves find it difficult to pick and chose, preferring packages instead. But time will tell how the Indian consumer behaves this time around. But if the industry and the government/regulator work together, a lot can be made possible. However, there are some actions that need to be acted upon urgently. In my opinion, they are the following:

    1. TRAI guidelines pre-suppose that all distribution platform operators (DPOs) have the built in capability to create packages and also bill on a la carte basis. While it might be possible for the bigger DPOs who have invested in the backend to have this capability, I am less confident of smaller DPOs. Unfortunately, for many of them digitalization was just converting analog signals to digital. Such DPOs selected weak support players resulting in inadequate capabilities in the backend, which is the heart of digitalization (packaging and bundling). For them to make adequate changes will also mean making huge investment and technology upgrade. One way to make this possible quickly and in a cost efficient way is to implement infrastructure sharing at every level keeping advancing technology in mind. And, to make this aspect possible, it’s necessary to make licensing norms amendments in the statutory regulations relating to cable TV, HITS, and DTH.

    2. As of today, the balance of negotiating power is clearly in the hands of broadcasters and, while the TRAI orders are quite exhaustive in terms of various provisions, lets us not underestimate the capability/ingenuity/creativity of the broadcasters. I personally do not think any broadcaster will absorb the DPO margins. As broadcasters have an in-built minimum return they expect from their channels, in all probability, they will add this margin to the channels’ prices. The regulator should consider setting up a mechanism by which it can review and intervene in a time-bound manner.

    3. DPOs must move away from their analog mindsets and embrace digitalization and its implications by being more honest and transparent in their dealings with broadcasters and other stakeholders.

    4. While TRAI has outlined the terms and conditions of providing TV channels to DPOs, it has been observed that commercial negotiations are fairly simpler than the legal terms and conditions. In my view, this is a result of legacy mistrust between a broadcaster and an MSO. I would, therefore, suggest that a model interconnect be prepared by TRAI, which must be the document entered into by the said parties till the industry settles down to this new environment and mutual trust develops.

    5. Broadcasters and DPOs must work together to jointly grow the business. At the end of the day, both will benefit only if the consumer pays. I think a working group comprising representatives from various industry organizations like the IBF, NBA, AIDCF, DTH Association and TRAI/MIB should be constituted along with some independent experts to facilitate the process. This should be a small group that could make valuable suggestions. Trust and transparency will need to be the hallmark for the industry to move forward and litigations must be kept out as far as possible.

    6. The government should provide more clarity on taxation issues; especially in view of the new GST regime set to be rolled out from later this year. Simultaneously, the government must seriously consider giving `industry status’ to the broadcast sector.

    7. As far as the tariff order is concerned, DPOs have an opportunity, with the different margin structures, to set their houses in order. They need to invest in the backend, introduce VAS (value added services) and look at having some unique content.

    8. From the tariff point of view broadcasters have a challenge on their hands as they know there is a price cap with restrictions on packaging (sports channels). They should seriously consider promoting events on short-term basis as there is no minimum period for subscription. We all know consumers by and large watch 12 to 15 channels. It will be interesting to see how competing broadcasters price channels in specific genres as consumers in the short-term are likely to cap their spends on TV entertainment.

    9. DPOs in smaller towns should consider forming co-operatives to work together, while at the same time retaining their individual identities.

    As a result of fresh TRAI orders, I hope there will be more discipline and transparency in the industry, which could also see mergers within platforms as this is a time to consolidate. The Indian broadcast and cable sector is on the cusp of major changes. Those who embrace change, will flourish, while the rest will slowly perish.

    public://tony_0.jpg (The author, an Indian media industry veteran, is the former CEO-Media, Hinduja Group. The views expressed here are personal, and Indiantelevision.com need not necessarily subscribe to them.)