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Tag: IBS

  • No exclusive pacts with telcos: TRAI to building-owners; CTI mooted

    No exclusive pacts with telcos: TRAI to building-owners; CTI mooted

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued its recommendations on “In-Building Access by Telecom Service Providers”.

    An effective telecommunications infrastructure is an essential component of any building for its connectivity to the outside world. Telecommunications services such as voice, data and wideband multimedia services are indispensable in the modern society. In order to improve in-building coverage and to offer quality high data rate services, installation of in-building solutions (IBS) for wireless services and laying of cables such as copper cables, optical fibre cables (OFC),LANcables etc. is required.

    To lay  cables  or  install  telecom  infrastructure   inside  the  building, Telecom Service Providers (TSP) lnfrastructure Providers (lP-I) require permission of the owner of the building. However, it is seen that generally restrictive practices are adopted by building owners while giving access to the building due to commercial. interests. In many cases, these owners enter into exclusive agreement with one of the TSPs for providing telecom services to dwellers and deny access to other TSPs, thus creating an artificial entry barrier for other TSPs. Such practices not only limit competition, it also leaves no choice to consumers except to avail services from the TSP with whom the contract is done; taking away choice and flexibility from the consumers which they would have had in terms of quality of service (QoS), tariff, redundancy etc.

    In view of the above, a need was felt for policy intervention and to evolve a framework applicable to in-building facilities to enable the telecom operators to obtain efficient access on reasonable terms and conditions. Therefore, the Authority, suo-motu, decided to initiate a consultation process on the issue. Accordingly, a Consultation Paper on “In-Building Access by Telecom Service Providers” was released on 6 June 2016 seeking the comments of the stakeholders. An Open House Discussion (OHD) on the issue was also convened on 30 September 2016 at New Delhi.

    Based on the comments received and further analysis, draft recommendations on ‘In-Building Access by Telecom Service Providers’ have been issued and the same have also been placed on TRAI’s web site. Some of the main recommendations are:

    (i)    TSPs/IP-ls be mandated to share the in-building infrastructure (IBS, OFC and other cables, ducts etc) with other TSPs, in large public places, commercial complexes and residential complexes in transparent, fair and non-discriminatory manner.

    (ii)    Indulgence   into  exclusive  contract   prohibiting   access  to  other TSPs may be treated as violation of the license agreement / registration.

    (iii)    Suitable provisions for  the creation of  Common Telecom Infrastructure (CTI) inside the building should form part of the Model Building Bye-Laws.

    (iv)    The essential requirement for telecom installations and the associated cabling should be formed part of National Building Code of India (NBC), being amended by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

    (v)    Completion certificate to a building to be granted only after ensuring that the CTI as per the prescribed standards is in place.

    (vi)    Access to building including CTI facilities be available to the TSPs on a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner and minimum three TSPs/IP-Is should have presence in the building.

    Also Read:

    “There would be a lot on TRAI’s plate in 2017” – RS Sharma

    Wi-fi proliferation, Net Telephony discussion in January

     

  • No exclusive pacts with telcos: TRAI to building-owners; CTI mooted

    No exclusive pacts with telcos: TRAI to building-owners; CTI mooted

    MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued its recommendations on “In-Building Access by Telecom Service Providers”.

    An effective telecommunications infrastructure is an essential component of any building for its connectivity to the outside world. Telecommunications services such as voice, data and wideband multimedia services are indispensable in the modern society. In order to improve in-building coverage and to offer quality high data rate services, installation of in-building solutions (IBS) for wireless services and laying of cables such as copper cables, optical fibre cables (OFC),LANcables etc. is required.

    To lay  cables  or  install  telecom  infrastructure   inside  the  building, Telecom Service Providers (TSP) lnfrastructure Providers (lP-I) require permission of the owner of the building. However, it is seen that generally restrictive practices are adopted by building owners while giving access to the building due to commercial. interests. In many cases, these owners enter into exclusive agreement with one of the TSPs for providing telecom services to dwellers and deny access to other TSPs, thus creating an artificial entry barrier for other TSPs. Such practices not only limit competition, it also leaves no choice to consumers except to avail services from the TSP with whom the contract is done; taking away choice and flexibility from the consumers which they would have had in terms of quality of service (QoS), tariff, redundancy etc.

    In view of the above, a need was felt for policy intervention and to evolve a framework applicable to in-building facilities to enable the telecom operators to obtain efficient access on reasonable terms and conditions. Therefore, the Authority, suo-motu, decided to initiate a consultation process on the issue. Accordingly, a Consultation Paper on “In-Building Access by Telecom Service Providers” was released on 6 June 2016 seeking the comments of the stakeholders. An Open House Discussion (OHD) on the issue was also convened on 30 September 2016 at New Delhi.

    Based on the comments received and further analysis, draft recommendations on ‘In-Building Access by Telecom Service Providers’ have been issued and the same have also been placed on TRAI’s web site. Some of the main recommendations are:

    (i)    TSPs/IP-ls be mandated to share the in-building infrastructure (IBS, OFC and other cables, ducts etc) with other TSPs, in large public places, commercial complexes and residential complexes in transparent, fair and non-discriminatory manner.

    (ii)    Indulgence   into  exclusive  contract   prohibiting   access  to  other TSPs may be treated as violation of the license agreement / registration.

    (iii)    Suitable provisions for  the creation of  Common Telecom Infrastructure (CTI) inside the building should form part of the Model Building Bye-Laws.

    (iv)    The essential requirement for telecom installations and the associated cabling should be formed part of National Building Code of India (NBC), being amended by Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS).

    (v)    Completion certificate to a building to be granted only after ensuring that the CTI as per the prescribed standards is in place.

    (vi)    Access to building including CTI facilities be available to the TSPs on a fair, transparent and non-discriminatory manner and minimum three TSPs/IP-Is should have presence in the building.

    Also Read:

    “There would be a lot on TRAI’s plate in 2017” – RS Sharma

    Wi-fi proliferation, Net Telephony discussion in January

     

  • Online & mobile advertising service tax levy: Industry says ouch!

    Online & mobile advertising service tax levy: Industry says ouch!

    MUMBAI: Budget 2014 brought with it the announcement that the 12.36 per cent service tax would be levied on online and mobile advertising also. These two were earlier exempt from the levy which was applicable to advertising on television. Finance minister Arun Jaitley, however, chose to continue to keep the much larger print media sector out of the tax net. Service tax on advertising on TV had been hiked to 12 per cent (plus 3 per cent sucharge) from 10 per cent in 2012, by the then government. The new levy will come into effect from a date to be notified after the passing of the Finance Bill.

     

    Indiantelevision.com spoke to digital agency heads to check out whether they were ok with the inclusion of online and mobile advertising under the service tax umbrella.

     

    “Okay to be on par with others”

    Online marketing and ad agency Pinstorm Technologies  founder & CEO Mahesh Murthy doesn’t think that it is a big issue. “We are now a grown-up industry and though the tax that’ll be mopped up here will be just around Rs 500 crore, I’m okay with us being treated on par with taxes on broadcast,” says Murthy.

     

    “The grey area here is what exactly constitutes advertising in the online world. Is a Facebook post by a brand an ad? What about a tweet by an influencer? What about native content-driven solutions being used by sites like Buzzfeed? I believe the definition of what exactly constitutes digital and mobile advertising would help a lot. Right now there isn’t any clarity,” observes Murthy.

     

    It can be noted that all agencies were charging service tax as it was in non-exempt category. Only recently it was moved to the exempt category.

     

    Online digital agency ibs MD Sabyasachi Mitter thinks the industry will be going back to how things were a little over a year back.

     

    “At the agency the billing complication is reduced as we don’t need to raise different bills for media cost and commission. Also, reconciliation becomes easier. For most clients who take input credit it will also not be a big deal. What will happen is for clients who release pay orders for all inclusive budgets, the spendable value will go down, ” mentions Mitter.

     

    Vdopia APAC VP Preetesh Chouhan says bringing online advertising in the service tax ambit will help digital players understand whether the medium has arrived or not.

     

    “As a video advertising company, our numbers show that we are witnessing an amazing organic growth of both online and mobile audiences and this is not going to change. So my opinion is that tax levied will not affect how brands are allocating spends on digital media. It could be a good opportunity to see if we have made the final transition from niche to mainstream advertising,” says Vdopia VP-APAC Preetesh Chouhan.

     

    “Time to re look at online advertising budgets”

     

    Digital L&K Saatchi & Saatchi CEO and managing partner Anil Nair expected this to happen.

     

    According to him it will mean that brand managers and media companies will have to relook at their online budgets and account for accommodating the service tax component now given that their overall budgets are already fixed.

     

    “It may augur well for social media though as monies could be diverted into content, apps etc. While online display will see a marginal cut back for a couple of quarters till it picks up again,” says Nair.

     

    “While some sections of the industry are not happy with the online and mobile advertising being included under the service tax, we believe that the philosophy of pruning the negative list in order to promote GST in the industry, is in the right direction and thus inclusion of such services in the taxation is a small price to pay in the short-term,” said PricewaterhouseCoopers leader- entertainment & media practice India Smita Jha.

     

    Foxymoron co-founder Suveer Bajaj believes the finance minister’s decision is likely to have a negative  impact as most brands and large corporations have already budgeted their online media spends for the year.

     

    “This would imply that these marketing and advertising budgets would eventually get undercut. Owing to the fact that, online and digital advertising in India is fairly nascent, this move might discourage new entrants to the industry and allocation of spends towards digital marketing. The speedy rate at which the industry was evolving now faces a setback,” adds Bajaj.

     

    Bajaj, however, says the budgetary initiative to set aside  close to Rs 500 crore for the digital India programme to ensure connectivity at the grass-root level is laudable. “Brands and organisations on digital will now also focus on the rural markets, if they haven’t already so through the online mediums. Going forward, there will be a paradigm shift in the communication and marketing strategies by digital and technology agencies to specifically target this new audience by including unique and innovative rural marketing campaigns,” he opines.

     

    HDFC Life senior executive VP marketing Sanjay Tripathy thinks this move will have an impact on the growth of this medium. He also states that this might lead to cut down on marketing spends in the coming days.

     

    According to Future Group president (customer strategy) and CEO (Bengal warriors & T24) Sandip Tarkas the announcement is a bit of a hit but not a surprise. “As we move towards a GST regime, this anomaly had to be removed. This also reflects the growing size of online ad market which is large enough to be taxed,” says Tarkas.

     

    Industry leader and Hungama Digital Media Entertainment MD & CEO Neeraj Roy speaks for the entire online industry in this comment he sent out to publications.  “The aspect of bringing back online advertising into the service tax ambit, whilst it is still a fledgling segment, is almost a conflicting action and not a welcome move.”

  • Gen-Now upbeat about GoaFest

    Gen-Now upbeat about GoaFest

    MUMBAI: The countdown to GoaFest 2014 has begun, setting the advertising and media industry aflutter.

     

    On the one hand, there is talk of some creative agencies sending only their key teams to attend the fest while on the other, some biggies have decided to give the event a miss altogether, citing budget constraints, as one of the reasons. In the words of a copy supervisor of a leading creative agency, “I don’t like the fact that the venue has been shifted. It was like a welcome break for all once a year.”

     

    However, as with all other things, this is but one side of the story. There are ripples of excitement among a host of digital, media and outdoor agencies which are really looking forward to participating in the extravaganza. Indiatelevision.com speaks to some of the young, up and coming delegates to understand their expectations from the fest…

     

    Great Expectations

     

    The Abby’s which were always considered prestigious by the creative and media fraternity has captured the imagination of digital and outdoor agencies as well. As ibs copy supervisor Karthik Krishnan puts it, GoaFest is a great platform many young professionals (in creative and servicing) to get exposure to the best in business when it comes to the jury and peers. “Ad people are slowly warming up to their international counterparts’ attention to digital. This year, in addition to mainline, I’m expecting a lot more attention being given to digital advertising,” adds Krishnan. 

     

    Milestone Brandcom account manager Nidhi Kavle feels it’s going to be an exciting experience attending the fest and meeting the cr?me de la cr?me of advertising. “Having chosen advertising as a career, I am looking forward to see the different faces of the industry and get some great insights into what the future of my career in this industry will be like. All the moguls of the ad world are going to be at the fest and to get an opportunity to see them, interact with them, and hear them speak is one that I wouldn’t pass for anything,” says Kavle.

     

    What about CQ?

     

    Sources believe that with the number of entries having gone down and with some agencies dropping out, the competitive quotient (CQ) has dipped. However, the ones attending the fest seem positive.

     

    “On the one hand, the opportunity for the industry’s up-and-coming talents to measure up against the Indian behemoths is sort of lost. But on the other hand, the stage is all theirs. It’s their event to showcase their very best, in front of the best,” says Krishnan. 

     

    Says Kavle, “I believe that the work we see on a daily basis, across the various mediums of communication should be the work that is selected for honours. This is the same work that traverses from one medium to another. Most of the organizers now have already become more process driven. So we are looking forward to another great edition of the fest with lots of new experiences to take home.”

     

    Guess we’ll just have to wait for a week to see who takes away what at the fest…

  • Gen-Now upbeat about GoaFest

    Gen-Now upbeat about GoaFest

    MUMBAI: The countdown to GoaFest 2014 has begun, setting the advertising and media industry aflutter.

     

    On the one hand, there is talk of some creative agencies sending only their key teams to attend the fest while on the other, some biggies have decided to give the event a miss altogether, citing budget constraints, as one of the reasons. In the words of a copy supervisor of a leading creative agency, “I don’t like the fact that the venue has been shifted. It was like a welcome break for all once a year.”

     

    However, as with all other things, this is but one side of the story. There are ripples of excitement among a host of digital, media and outdoor agencies which are really looking forward to participating in the extravaganza. Indiatelevision.com speaks to some of the young, up and coming delegates to understand their expectations from the fest…

     

    Great Expectations

     

    The Abby’s which were always considered prestigious by the creative and media fraternity has captured the imagination of digital and outdoor agencies as well. As ibs copy supervisor Karthik Krishnan puts it, GoaFest is a great platform many young professionals (in creative and servicing) to get exposure to the best in business when it comes to the jury and peers. “Ad people are slowly warming up to their international counterparts’ attention to digital. This year, in addition to mainline, I’m expecting a lot more attention being given to digital advertising,” adds Krishnan. 

     

    Milestone Brandcom account manager Nidhi Kavle feels it’s going to be an exciting experience attending the fest and meeting the cr?me de la cr?me of advertising. “Having chosen advertising as a career, I am looking forward to see the different faces of the industry and get some great insights into what the future of my career in this industry will be like. All the moguls of the ad world are going to be at the fest and to get an opportunity to see them, interact with them, and hear them speak is one that I wouldn’t pass for anything,” says Kavle.

     

    What about CQ?

     

    Sources believe that with the number of entries having gone down and with some agencies dropping out, the competitive quotient (CQ) has dipped. However, the ones attending the fest seem positive.

     

    “On the one hand, the opportunity for the industry’s up-and-coming talents to measure up against the Indian behemoths is sort of lost. But on the other hand, the stage is all theirs. It’s their event to showcase their very best, in front of the best,” says Krishnan. 

     

    Says Kavle, “I believe that the work we see on a daily basis, across the various mediums of communication should be the work that is selected for honours. This is the same work that traverses from one medium to another. Most of the organizers now have already become more process driven. So we are looking forward to another great edition of the fest with lots of new experiences to take home.”

     

    Guess we’ll just have to wait for a week to see who takes away what at the fest…