Category: Technology

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) just released a Consultation Paper on the issues issues arising out of the provision of the direct-to-home television service.

The Trai paper‘s focus is on three issues – interconnect agreements, quality of service standards and technical and commercial interoperability for set top boxes.

On the Interconnection issues, Trai is taking up those relating to standardisation of interconnection agreements and use of the reference interconnect offer methodology. Additionally, issues relating to provision of access to broadcasters, must carry obligations and the related issue of carriage fee are also being taken up.

On the tariff question, the Trai paper remains consistent with the line taken earlier as well by the sector regulator that it will not intervene or regulate matters of pricing of DTH services.

On the subject of quality of service standards, the paper has issues of whether QOS standards for DTH should be mandated.

The other two issues on this subject are

• Whether the approach suggested by Trai for the telecom sector where it mandates the details of the grievance redressal machinery – maintenance of call centre, appointment of nodal officers for grievance redressal and establishment of appellate body – can be followed in the case of DTH also.
  
• And whether quality of service standards can be voluntarily evolved by the service provider.

Another major issue is whether technical interoperability of STBs should be retained or whether it should be replaced by commercial interoperability. And then again, if commercial interoperability is to be introduced then what is the manner in which this is to be done.

“Interconnection for DTH is already covered on issues relating to “must provide”. However, the reverse obligations regarding “must carry” as well as issues relating to standardisation of agreements have not yet been addressed and these have been raised in the consultation paper.

“On the quality of service standards, the basic issue is whether these should be mandated and if so, in what manner.

“Finally, the regulatory issues regarding set top boxes focus on the need for commercial interoperability and whether this should replace the technical interoperability. The major issues posed for consultation are indicated in the box placed alongside,” the statement concluded.

As regards pricing, it may be mentioned that in relation to the case between Zee Turner versus TataSky, the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal had asked a few weeks ago, whether Trai would be looking into this. Trai had later responded that the process is on, and this paper now comes in part as a result of that exercise.

“At present, apart from Doordarshan, which provides free to air channels, there are two other DTH service providers for pay channels and two more have obtained license to commence operation, a statement from Trai said today.

The statement says that there are a number of issues relating to tariffs, both at the wholesale and at the retail level.

“The foremost issue is whether there is need for any regulation of DTH tariffs since the DTH service is in fact providing some competition to cable television. Competition provides an excellent method for ensuring the consumer‘s interests are protected.

“Accordingly, regulation has a rationale when the market does not function or the level of competition is inadequate. It has been seen in the recent past that there has been some competition between the two DTH service providers as well as between DTH and cable.

“Competitive packages and offers have been made by all the service providers as against the situation just one year back when the consumer had virtually no choice and options.

“Considering all these developments, it has been decided that these issues should be looked at after some time when the impact of the competition in general, and impact of roll out of the CAS in cable TV in particular can be assessed. Accordingly the tariff issues have not been posed for consultation at present,” the statement said.

The major issues posed for consultation related to interconnection, quality of service standards and regulatory issues regarding set top boxes.

The consultation paper can be found on the Trai website, at www.trai.gov.in.

MUMBAI: Kolkata-based multi-system operator (MSO) Manthan Broadband Services has integrated its enryption system using the Irdeto system and has gone totally online with it.

Manthan is deploying the Irdeto Digital TV solution as part of its analogue to digital migration project in Kolkata and outlying areas. “We have totally gone online with the Irdeto system,” says Manthan director Gurmeet Singh.

Irdeto will provide Manthan with it’s newest smart card, the Irdeto Zeta Card. The Zeta Card contains advanced security functionalities like Irdeto’s patented FlexiFlash technology for the rapid, secure deployment of new functionalities and security upgrades, as well as an advanced DRM feature that can be used to enforce business rules for content stored on personal video recorders.

Says Irdeto CEO Graham Kill, “Irdeto is providing a next-generation digital TV solution and support services to help Manthan expand the digital era in India.”

MUMBAI: MagnaQuest has announced that its Convergent Customer Management and Billing (CMB) solution, MQSubscribeT has been selected by IOL Broadband, India for its subscriber billing, inventory and customer care operations. This contract encompasses IOL‘s service deployments on their own network and deployment of Content Delivery Network (CDN) for MTNL and BSNL.

An official annoucement states, integrations with network elements for provisioning, rating and billing of multiple services delivered over IP. MQSubscribeT to be used to bill value added services like video on Demand, VoIP services over its IP network, apart from the billing of regular services.

IOL has launched IPTV services including broadcast TV, video on demand, broadband Internet, as part of its CDN project with MTNL. IOL intends to launch such services in several cities in India. MagnaQuest would work on all IOL deployments in India.

MQSubscribeT will support IOL‘s projected subscriber growth and launch of new value added services. To start with MQSubscribeT would be deployed integrated with SeaChange‘s Video on Demand middleware chosen by IOL, adds the release.

MagnaQuest is exhibiting its Convergent Customer Management and Billing solution, MQSubscribeTM and its capability to handle IPTV billing and mediation during IPTV World Forum, London on 5-7 March.

The policy claims to have garnered the support of leading online publishers in India including Rediff.com, Yahoo! India, Indiatimes.com and Sify.com.

IAMAI president Dr Subho Ray is hopeful that the new policy will bring in some norms and standards to the relationship between online publishers and agencies which is currently bilateral and haphazard.

According to an official announcement the policy consists of three aspects:

a) A common credit policy for all accredited agencies
b) An accreditation process
c) A process of recovery of over due payments from agencies

Under the Policy, a 60 day credit would be extended by affiliated publishers to all accredited agencies with a 30 day window for negotiation, reconciliation and settlement. The process of accreditation has been deliberately kept simple and gratis to encourage agencies to be a part of this process. The policy comes into force from 28 March 2007 after the one-month window given to agencies for accreditation expires.

As it exists today, the policy would regulate the relationship and payment schedules between online publishers and agencies only much like the process followed by the INS. However, if the policy works out successfully in the first stage, IAMAI would seriously consider taking the next step of setting up certain norms supporting the agencies‘ recovery from advertisers.

MUMBAI: To say that BBC is bullish on Asia would be stating the obvious. Continuing to mark its presence in the region, BBC Worldwide has become one of the first UK distributors to provide entertainment content to an Asian mobile television broadcaster‘s S-DMB (Satellite Digital Multimedia Broadcasting) service.

The deal was announced at the BBC Showcase in Brighton and allows the customers of Tu Media to watch 39 hours of Top Gear programming through in-car devices or gadgets such as mobile phones, laptops, and personal digital cameras. Launched in May 2005, Tu Media‘s S-DMB service is said to attract over one million subscribers.

The deal with Tu Media includes all programmes from Top Gear‘s 2004-05 and 2005-2006 series.BBC show Top Gear is available in well over 100 countries worldwide, reaching more than 138 million households globally.

BBC Worldwide Senior TV Sales Manager, Asia Linfield Ng, said: “Digital media is a huge growth area for our business. I‘m delighted that BBC Worldwide has brokered this exciting deal, which combines one of South Korea‘s most important new broadcasting technologies with one of the BBC‘s most popular titles.”

TU Media Contents Acquisition Director Gidu Kim added: “As the high quality our S-DMB service continues to attract over 1000 new subscribers every day, it‘s crucial that TU Media consistently offers our customers the best programming available. Today‘s deal does exactly that – 43 hours of what we believe to be the world‘s premier motoring programme, and just the start of what I hope will be a long relationship with BBC Worldwide.”

NEW DELHI: The government has set a target of providing nine million broadband connections by this year end and 20 million connections by the end of 2010.

Addressing the Parliamentary Consultative Committee attached to his ministry, Communications and Information Technology Minister Dayanidhi Maran stated that more than a million broadband connections would be added per month before the end of 2007 thanks to the availability of new disruptive wireless broadband technologies such as Wi-MAX.

He stressed the need for wire line and wireless broadband to co-exist and expand together and said new applications such as tele-aid medicines, IPTV, video conferencing, e-governance, e-commerce etc. will be available to citizens with broadband availability. Members complained about the poor mobile connectivity in the rural/remote areas and stressed the need for improving the complaint redressal mechanism in the backward and rural areas.

There will be special emphasis for the North-Eastern States and Jammu & Kashmir, Maran added. He informed the members that the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) had declared Year 2007 as “Year of North East and Jammu Kashmir” with the objective of improving teleconnectivity in these states. Dr. Shakeel Ahmad, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology was also present.

Through a presentation on the initiatives on Broadband, members were shown the targets to be achieved under the broadband initiatives, broad strategy and action plans prepared by the BSNL and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL).

It is envisaged under the action plan that broadband coverage of all secondary and higher secondary schools, public health care centers and Village Panchayats would be provided by the year 2008. Broadband connectivity would be provided to 100,000 Community Service Centers (CSC) covering 20000 CSCs by ADSL by September 2007; 1000 blocks by wireless broadband by December 2007 and the remaining 5000 blocks by wireless broadband with USO support by June 2008. BSNL, as part of their action plan, have envisaged adding an average of 500,000 broadband connections per month from January 2008.

Eighty per cent of the exchanges would be broadband by the end of 2007 and roll out of IPTV will begin in major cities. In addition to this, BSNL will aggressively roll out high speed broadband (like Wi-MAX) services and allow integration of multiple access technology like ADSL 2 +, VDSL 2, fibre-home, Wi-Fi, Wi-MAX, 3G, CorDECT etc. The focus will be to provide multi-play instead of triple play.

As a part of the strategy, MTNL has envisaged a target of providing one million broadband connections by the end of this year and addition of an average 100,000 connections per month from January 2008. It has also decided to strengthen its IPTV services which have been recently rolled out fully in Mumbai and in limited areas of Delhi.

Maran informed the members about the recent amendment to the Indian Telegraph Act to provide support from USO fund for mobile and broadband services in remote/rural areas. He said restrictions of providing mobile services within 10 km. of international borders had been relaxed to 500 metres except along the Line of Control and Line of Actual Control in the areas of Akhnoor and Pathankot of J and K. Maran hoped that mobile connectivity to the rural area and border areas will improve significantly with these decisions.

MUMBAI: MEASAT Satellite Systems Sdn. Bhd. announced that RigNet Pte Ltd global provider of managed communications solutions to the oil and gas industry had signed an agreement contracting capacity on the MEASAT-3 satellite for the distribution of VSAT services.

MEASAT has been supporting RigNet since 2005 with satellite capacity for the distribution of VSAT services via MEASAT-1.

Said MEASAT senior director sales and marketing Yau Chyong Lim, “We are delighted that RigNet has selected the recently launched MEASAT-3 satellite, which has been designed to be one of Asia-Pacific‘s premier satellites with extensive coverage over more than 100 countries, to distribute their services to their upstream oil and gas customers. MEASAT-3 has an excellent footprint that covers Asia Pacific, Middle East and parts of Africa. This increased satellite footprint size is vital to RigNet‘s hyper-growth in these regions”.

Said RigNet Vice President for the Asia Pacific region John Troup, “RigNet is extremely pleased that MEASAT-3 was successfully launched and in service. With this new satellite, RigNet will be able to provide coverage for our customers‘ drilling rigs seamlessly across regions. MEASAT-3 also complements RigNet‘s global satellite coverage across all upstream oil and gas regions.”

MEASAT-3‘s powerful C-Band beams will allow RigNet‘s host of VSAT terminals to communicate with multiple offshore locations via high-speed, reliable and secure satellite links. MEASAT-3‘s bandwidth will facilitate cost-effective operations and heightened efficiency in RigNet‘s global network.

NEW DELHI: Even as the Indian Eleven left for the West Indies for the World Cup, the Zee network has launched a cricket website, www.zeecric.com, to encash on the huge interest that the international tourney is bound to create’

The site was launched by former cricket stars Maninder Singh, Nikhil Chopra and Vinod Kambli at the Ferozeshah Cricket Ground in the capital. Zaheer Abbas, Steve Waugh, Maninder Singh, Nikhil Chopra and Vinod Kambli are among some regular contributors to various columns on the web site.

The commencement of the biggest Cricket event will see live coverage of multiple matches embellished with graphs, manhattans, wagon wheels, ball-by-ball commentary and a live scorecard on the site. Readers can relive the highlights through excerpts from the live commentary on the site.

Moving a step further from recording the action, the panel of expert columnists discuss and dissect the nuances of the game.

The website will also carry all records at a dedicated space called Number Game.

BANGALORE: Tata Indicom today announced the national launch of the ultra slim Motofone F3c on the CDMA platform in Bangalore today based on Qualcomm’s QSC 6010 chipset. On the anvil are launches of other chipsets – 6020 and 6030 with other handset manufacturers according to Tata Teleservices (TTL) CEO Darryl Green. The Motofone F3 will be exclusive for TTL for the next six months. Bollywood actor Neha Dupia did the honours for TTL.

TTL plans to target the ordinary man who probably gets a cell phone for the first time with the low cost stylish handset as bait. The Motofone F3c is priced at Rs.1,699/- inclusive of all taxes and charges. TTL plan to combine Motofone F3c with the benefits of their GO XTRA PACK, will enable customers to avail double talk time for the first six months with bonus talk time valid for 1 year from the date of activation. The scheme also offers free incoming calls for the first six months without recharge. Darryl is confident of selling 2 to 3 million of these handsets over the next 12 months.

This was also the first global launch of the single chip by any company globally according to Qualcomm senior vp Kanwalinder Singh who avers that “QUALCOMM is committed to bringing wireless connectivity to emerging markets, and our QSC family of solutions enables compelling, affordable devices for cost-sensitive countries such as India. We are pleased to be working with Motorola and Tata in bringing the Motofone F3c, and look forward to further collaboration with the industry toward the common goal of making connectivity accessible to more people worldwide.”

“Though many companies have announced single chip solutions, they are so far only there on paper,” added Singh.

The Motofone F3c has features such as voice prompts in six local languages—English, Hindi, Tamil, Telugu, Kannada and Malayalam, the QUALCOMM Single Chip (QSC) enabled device from Motorola, MOTOFONE F3c has been specially designed to suit the needs of Indian consumers. It offers a rich vacuum metallized finish making it extremely sturdy, with polyphonic ringtones including three Indian tones, high audio, office quality speakerphone and ringtone downloads.

TTL, which recently crossed one million subscribers in Karnataka and two million subscriptions in New Delhi, is looking to close the financial year with 18 million subscribers. They currently have 15 million subscribers.

MUMBAI: The Pakistan Broadcasters Association (PBA) and the Cable & Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (Casbaa) are pleased to announce details of the first Electronic Media Exhibition and Conference (EMEC) in Karachi, Pakistan, on 15 – 16 May.

The international forum that has been themed ‘A Digital Future for Pakistan‘ will be hosted by the Pakistan Electronic Media Regulatory Authority (Pemra) and co-organised by the PBA and Casbaa.

According to an official announcement, the issues that the forum will attempt to address include the development of a world class pay-TV industry within Pakistan, international best practices for content development and the impact of digital technologies such as IPTV on new business models. The speakers for the event will be drawn from media companies from across the world.

“This is a uniquely exciting time for broadcasting in Pakistan,” said Pemra chairman Iftikhar Rashid. “With the introduction of advanced cable systems, Direct-to-Home satellite services and IPTV systems, Pakistan is on the cusp of great change. During our conference Pemra will welcome the participation of specialists in international best practices and the suppliers of the very best of the new technologies.”

“As a regional industry body devoted to the advancement of multi-channel television, Casbaa is delighted to partner with the PBA and with Pemra to forge new relationships,” said Casbaa chairman Marcel Fenez.