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Tag: last mile owners

  • Kolkata LMOs appeal to TRAI

    Kolkata LMOs appeal to TRAI

    KOLKATA: The last mile owners (LMO) in Kolkata have appealed to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to allow them to air events related to the region through their local cable TV channels. 
     

    The appeal has come after the Authority released its consultation paper to regulate the local cable TV channels of cable operators in June, this year. “We have appealed to the Authority to allow us to run the local video channels as we did during the analogue times,” informs Cable Operators’ Sangram Committee secretary Apurba Bhattacharya.

     

    In the consultation paper, TRAI had said that MSOs, LMOs, DTH operators, HITS and IPTV service providers (all called as distribution platform operators – or DPOs-  henceforth) are running local channels aka platform services (PS) that don’t have the MIB’s permission. And some channels that are transmitted by the DPOs through the PS channels have content similar to regular TV channels.

     
    DAS, according to TRAI has changed the context for DPOs and their PS as far as cable TV operators are concerned. The reason: with digitisation, it is only the MSOs who can transmit encrypted signals from their headends on cable TV networks; LMOs can no longer transmit their own local ground based channels. 

     

    “Cable TV operators have no intention to violate the rules and regulations set up by the most competent authority concerning local video channel,” informs Bhattacharya, who feels that the LMOs have never in the past 25 years violated any of the rules.

     

    According to Bhattacharya, digitisation has made local cable TV channels necessary, as it gets more localised and informative. “Cable TV subscribers through these channels can get information about the upcoming events, change of channel packages and TRAI recommendations,” he adds.

     

    To make their voices heard, cable operators in West Bengal, presented their plea not only through forums, but have also written letters to the TRAI. 

     

    During the analogue regime, these local cable TV channels were available on LCN five. “The channel is used not only to telecast popular movies, but also helps people get acquainted with important announcements of local law and order, events, traffic condition of the area, weather report and educational/academic programmes,” informs a cable operator. 

  • Kolkata LMOs to set up another cooperative post 2014 FIFA WC

    Kolkata LMOs to set up another cooperative post 2014 FIFA WC

    KOLKATA: The last mile owners (LMOs) in Kolkata are yet again gearing for owning their subscribers. While earlier a group comprising 100 LMOs had announced their plan of setting up their own cooperative, news now is that another set of ‘unhappy LMOs’ in Kolkata has united to set up their own control room and headend.  

       

    According to cable TV sources operating in the region, LMOs will declare their plans only after the end of the ongoing 2014 FIFA World Cup. The delay is to ensure that the 33 lakh cable TV subscribers in the area do not see any disruption in their cable TV services, especially during the football World Cup.

     

    The trend of more and more LMOs joining hands to set up their own cooperative has come from the rising concern over MSOs becoming the owners of the subscribers, which according to the LMOs have been owned by them for years. Sources hint that the industry will soon see some major announcements.

     

    Indiantelevision.com was the first to report on how around 100 LMOs in the region had united a few months ago to form a cooperative called ‘Bengal Broadband’.  The aim of this was to provide independent cable TV services to customers like any other multi-system operator (MSO), namely SitiCable, Manthan and Incable among others.

     

    ‘Bengal Broadband’ aims to start operation in the current fiscal 2014-15 and has already invested around Rs 4.8 crore in setting up the headend equipment and office infrastructure at Salt Lake College More in the city. The cooperative is looking at a subscriber base of one million in the first year of its operations. Not only this, it also aims at providing cable TV connections at a cost which is 15-20 per cent lower than the other MSOs.

     

    While Cable & Broadband Operators Welfare Association convener Swapan Chowdhury refused to comment on any such development, Cable Operators Sangram Committee general secretary Apurba Bhattacharya confirmed the news of LMOs in Kolkata venturing into forming a cooperative. “The operators are happy to get into this space. We will run the business ourselves.”

     

    A LMO, who is a part of the new venture said, “We are setting up our own control room and it will involve a cost of around Rs 1 crore. We will be able to offer services to customers at a cheaper rate. It will be an operators’ driven MSO.”

     

    “During the analogue regime, the revenue share between the MSO and LMO used to be 20:80 but after DAS, it has come down to 65:35. The business model is not at all lucrative. If this continues, we will die and not be able to arrange our daily bread and butter,” added another LMO who is a member of the group that is setting up the control room.

     

    Small operators will become a part of a larger LMO network, said another, without divulging much details.

  • Skill training course for Maharashtra LMOs

    Skill training course for Maharashtra LMOs

    MUMBAI: As the digitisation process moves to a new stage kick starting of phases III and IV and the billing process beginning in phases I and II, the consumers are set to adapt to newer methods as well. Digitisation is going to change the way the industry functions and in the best interest of the last mile owners (LMO), who often lag behind because of lesser knowledge, a skill training programme is being launched for them.

     

    The Telecom Sector Skill Council of India (TSSCI) and Mumbai based Druv Tech Systems is launching a course that would equip the cable operators with latest technologies in the digitised world and bring them at par with the Multi System Operator (MSO).

     

    The two companies entered into a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together on re-skilling broadband cable TV operators and their employees on nuances of sales, marketing, deployment and customer management. The MoU was signed between TSSCI CEO Lt. Gen. S.P. Kochhar (Retd) and Druv Tech Systems managing director Ravindra Deshmukh.

     

    “In this digitised world, where technology is changing fast, cable operators need to equip themselves well. While there is an element of customer care with the coming in of channel packaging, the operator has to deal with billing also. Things are no longer what it used to be couple of years back for the LMOs. And the course readies them for this change,” informs Deshmukh.

     

    An initiative by the government of India managed by private players, the 60-hour course will commence from the first week of March in Mumbai and Pune.

     

    Deshmukh says, “The idea of the course is to inculcate amongst operators soft skills which will help them learn the art to speak to customers, register complaints, market different services like content and broadband plan etc,” he adds.

     

    Deshmukh thinks that cable operators now need to be trained in all aspects of operations: cable TV and broadband. “The idea is to ensure that both the LMO and MSO are on the same page,” he says. Also while earlier the LMOs were not accountable to anyone, now everything needs to be reported. “For the player to become a mainstream player, this course is a must,” he adds.

     

    “Also, consumers will soon move towards electronic mode of payment. The LMO needs to understand how to accept online and card payment. The aim of the course is to bring uniformity in the industry operating standard,” he informs.

     

    To ensure maximum participation, the course has been designed such that the LMO can choose from a weekend course which is a full day course on Saturday and Sunday or an alternate day course which will be held every Monday, Wednesday and Friday in the evening. “The course aims at rescaling the operator,” he says.

     

    The batch will comprise 25 operators who will be assessed independently by TSSCI appointed professionals. The study material provided will be in English. “But there is also a provision wherein, a translated version of the study material will be available. And for the start, we are giving study material translated in Marathi for Maharashtra,” informs Deshmukh.

     

    The fee that comprises sessions of one-and-a-half hour each is Rs 10,000. “But if one successfully clears the exam will get an immediate cash return from the government of India, making it free of cost for the operator,” he says.

     

    It’s a part of corporate social responsibility of the company and is a way for them to connect better with their operators. The course will cover areas like broadband services, CPE and devices management, marketing, back office and customer care, to name a few.

     

    Druv Tech has partnered with the Maharashtra Institute of Technology School of Telecom Management (MITSOT) in Pune for the course. “People from Hathway Cable & Datacom, IndusInd Media Communication Ltd, Tata Communications, UPASS and telecom will form the part of teaching faculty,” he informs.

     

    Deshmukh thinks that the MoU is the most important initiative undertaken by Druv Tech. “This will equip the ecosystem to play a significant role in the transformation of broadband and cable TV sector through unique combination of technology and skill development training,” he concludes.

     

    The first batch for the course has been fully booked by Maharashtra Cable Operators Federation (MCOF) as a part of its member empowerment initiative.