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Tag: Sudhir Gupta

  • TDSAT to hear AROI’s petition challenging radio migration fee methodology; payment date extended

    TDSAT to hear AROI’s petition challenging radio migration fee methodology; payment date extended

    NEW DELHI: The vacation bench of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today extended till tomorrow the deadline for payment of the balance of the non-refundable One Time Migration Fee (NOTMF) for migrating from Phase II to Phase III of Radio FM.

     

    The vacation bench of TDSAT chairman Justice Aftab Alam and member Kuldip Singh, who gave the interim direction after preliminary hearing, are expected to hear tomorrow the petition by the Association of Radio Operators in India (AROI) challenging the criteria for NOTMF for migrating from Phase II to Phase III of Radio FM.

     

    The primary plea of AROI is that the Information and Broadcasting Ministry is charging very high fee for smaller cities for NOTMF.

     

    Meanwhile in a letter to I&B Secretary Sunil Arora yesterday, TRAI secretary Sudhir Gupta rejected the plea of AROI with regard to ten cities for which no bids had come in the recent e-auctions.

     

    Gupta said the AROI had in its representation “assumed zero percent increase in reserve prices for 10 group Z cities where auction was unsuccessful as no bids were received. This assumption of AROI is not tenable as the final prices for allocation of channels in such cities have not been determined.”

     

    He said AROI had indicated another two concerns in respect of calculation of NOTMF by the Ministry. In the first case wherein example of Shimla is given by AROI, the methodology followed by the I&B Ministry is in line with TRAI’s recommendations of 20 February, 2014, as this has been explained in an example given in a table of TRAI’s recommendations on “Migration of FM Radio Broadcasters from Phase-11 to Phase-III” dated 20 February, 2014.

     

    Accordingly, the request of AROI for review of NOTMF on this ground is not acceptable, Gupta said.

     

    The letter was in response to a letter from the Ministry dated 8 October wherein the Ministry has sought TRAI’s comments on the methodology used by the I&B Ministry for calculation of NOTMF for existing cities and to confirm whether the I&B Ministry has done calculation of city wise NOTMF in accordance with the TRAI’s recommendations of 20 February, 2014.

     

    Gupta said TRAI had examined the methodology of calculation of NOTMF followed by the Ministry for group X, Y and Z cities. “The methodology followed by the Ministry for calculation of NOTMF is in accordance with TRAI’s recommendations dated 20 February 2014.”

     

    However, Gupta said, “TRAI has neither verified the arithmetic accuracy of city-wise NOTMF calculated by the I&B Ministry nor looked into the city-wise prices determined through the auction process.”

  • TRAI inks MoU with UAE telecom regulator to strengthen collaboration

    TRAI inks MoU with UAE telecom regulator to strengthen collaboration

    MUMBAI: India’s Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the UAE’s Telecommunications Regulatory Authority (TRA) to strengthen the collaboration between the two countries within the Telecommunications and Information and Communications technology (ICT) space. 

     

    TRAI secretary Sudhir Gupta and TRA director general H.E. Hamad Obaid Al Mansoori signed the MoU.

     

    The MoU pledges both countries’ commitment to promoting closer co-operation and knowledge exchange pertaining to various aspects of international and regional ICT.

     

    The two telecom regulators will cooperate in the areas of technological developments and new technologies; universal services, Mobile Number Portability (MNP), spectrum issues, green telecoms, e-government and e-services, participation in international events and forums, amongst other issues.

     

    The MoU was inked earlier this month during the joint commission meetings that both countries held in India, in the presence of UAE foreign minister H.H. Sheikh Abdullah Bin Zayed Al Nahyan and Minister of State H.E. Reem Bint Ibrahim Al Hashimi.

     

    Al Mansoori said, “This agreement falls within the framework of bilateral cooperation between UAE and India, and aims to secure optimum utilisation of the telecommunication sector to best serve the development efforts, economy, and knowledge society, which will reflect positively on the competitiveness of both countries. The importance of the telecommunications sector is reflected through the strategic role it plays in our contemporary society, as it contributes significantly in the economic and social development. We regard taking advantage of the global expertise and strengthening the ties with international stakeholders as necessities for the growth and prosperity of this sector.”

     

    TRA believes that the telecommunications sector is a strategic catalyst that will accelerate the UAE’s competitiveness. Moreover, TRA is always keen to exchange knowledge and experience within the ICT field and implement best practices that contribute positively to developing a knowledge–based economy.

     

    Additionally, Al Mansoori and TRA senior manager international affairs Nasser Bin Hammad met with Indian Minister of Road and Transport Ravi Shankar Prasad to exchange point of views regarding many significant topics such as UN post-2015 sustainable development agenda that will be validated by the General Assembly during this month. 

     

    Moreover, meeting attendees exchanged thoughts about the challenges facing the telecommunications sector including broadband services, cyber security, and the promotion of investing in telecommunications and ICT companies. Both parties agreed that discussing such topics further is crucial during bilateral meetings on the sidelines of international forums.

  • TRAI seeks clarifications with regard to spectrum allotted to Defence

    TRAI seeks clarifications with regard to spectrum allotted to Defence

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked the Department of Telecom (DoT) to clarify whether discussions with Defence to release one block of 5 MHz is for the same block which has been already auctioned in five out of 22 LSAs or the discussion would result in release of one more block of spectrum, thus, making two blocks of spectrum available
    for auction.
     
    The letter from TRAI Secretary Sudhir Gupta follows a letter received from the WPC Wing asking TRAI to provide recommendations on: (a) Applicable reserve price for 2100 MHz, 2300 MHz and 2500 MHz bands for all the service areas in both the cases, that is, spectrum available in entire service area and spectrum partially available in any service area; (b) Auction of the right to use of spectrum in a band with varying validity periods (less than 20 years) so that expiry of validity period of right to use of spectrum in a band in a service area occurs at same time.
     
    TRAI has asked the DoT to provide information/ clarifications relating to the 2100 MHz band.
     
    The WPC has informed that at present no vacant spectrum is available with the DoT in 2100 MHz band and discussions with Defence are underway for release of one block of 5 MHz of spectrum. In its recommendations on ‘Valuation of Reserve Price of Spectrum: Licenses Expiring in 2015-16’ dated 15 October, TRAI had mentioned that the DoT has assigned the fifth block of 5 MHz in the 2100 MHz band in 5 LSAs and in the remaining 17 LSAs, the spectrum is available with the DoT.
     
    The Authority in its recommendations also recommended that entire 2X60 MHz in the 2100 MHz band should be made available for commercial use. If required, Defence may be assigned spectrum in the 1900 MHz band (1910-1920/1980-1990 MHz). It was further recommended
    that this matter is of utmost importance, therefore it must be taken up at the highest level and the vacant 3G slots should be put to auction along with the spectrum in 900 and 1800 MHz bands.
     
    In the letter, Gupta says TRAI will not be in a position to go ahead with the consultation process in the absence of full information with regard to total availability of the spectrum in the 2100 MHz band. Therefore, DoT is requested to indicate the decision regarding the above at the earliest.
     
    With regard to 2300 MHz band, the auction was conducted in June 2010 and two blocks across the 22 service areas were sold. However, even after four and half years of assignment of spectrum, no Telecom Service Provider has actually done any worthwhile rollout.
     
    Therefore, the Authority would like to know if in spite of such poor utilisation of earlier auctioned spectrum even after more than four years, the DoT believes that there will be takers for this spectrum at this point of time.
     
    TRAI had in a letter on 8 March 2013 informed DoT that in ten service areas, the guard band available between the spectrum assigned to different BWA spectrum holders is just 2.5 MHz, and this may result in severe interference in asynchronous TOO networks. TSPs have also suggested that the solution to the problem of interference in such a scenario can either be achieved by use of similar frame configuration (for uplinking and downlinking) or rearranging the assigned frequencies, so as to have a wider guard band.
     
    According to the present proposal of DoT, in 6 more LSAs, the guard band between different
    TSPs will reduce to 2.5 MHz.
     
    TRAI has also said that DoT may like to inform whether any study in this regard has been conducted to examine the concerns expressed by TSPs; and if so, DoT’s decision on this issue.
     
    Referring to the 2500 MHz band, TRAI says this band is very important and unique in the sense that it provides a substantial amount of spectrum (190 MHz) that has been allocated on a primary basis in all three International Telecommunications Union regions for terrestrial mobile communication. As per ITU-R recommendations there are three recommended frequency arrangements in this band. Most countries have followed an approach aligned with ITU Option I band plan (C1). The frequency spots in 2500 MHz band as shown in the annexure to the DoT letter are at variance with the Option I band plan of ITU which may result in the non-optimal use of the spectrum for all time to come. The decision on harmonisation of this band is pending for an inordinately long time.
     
    TRAI says there is urgent need to decide the issue so that this band can be used optimally for commercial as well as strategic purposes.
     
    According to current trends, the 700 MHz/800 MHz spectrum band known as the digital dividend frequencies and these bands are the ideal complement to 1800 MHz and 2600 MHz spectrum band using carrier aggregation techniques for LTE and LTE advanced technologies. The Authority in its recommendations of 15 October 2014 has recommended that the Government should announce the roadmap for auction of 700 MHz band before conduct of the upcoming auctions. The DoT may decide whether it wants to go ahead with the auction of spectrum in 2500 MHz band before conducting the auction in 700 MHz band.
     
    The letter says that DoT may also please confirm that it would like to go for auction without harmonising the band, in spite of the aforementioned implications.
     
    Referring to the validity period of right to use spectrum, TRAI has requested DoT to inform the ‘effective date’ of spectrum assignment for both administratively-assigned spectrum and auction-assigned spectrum for all TSPs in each of the service areas. It has also been noted that rollout obligation of TSPs is linked with the spectrum assignment that has been allocated for 20 years. Changes in the validity period will disturb the rollout obligations linked with the various spectrum auctions since 2010. DoT may indicate how rollout obligations are going to be ensured, going forward.

     

  • Stakeholders undivided on constitution of commercial subscriber

    Stakeholders undivided on constitution of commercial subscriber

    NEW DELHI: What constitutes commercial or non-commercial subscribers for broadcasting and cable TV services?

     

    This question remained largely unresolved in an open house discussion on tariff issues related to broadcasting and cable television services for commercial subscribers held later today.

     

    Broadcasters by and large were in agreement that anyone other than a domestic subscriber is a commercial subscriber.

     

    There was also division on who is responsible for the subscriber. While broadcasters feel they should know about the subscribers, the multi-service operators and cable operators said they are generally responsible for dealing with the subscriber and the broadcaster should not interfere.

     

    The Open House Discussion was called by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as it has to submit a proper tariff chart to the Supreme Court by 16 July.

     

    The meet was attended by senior officials of TRAI, the broadcasting fraternity including the Indian Broadcasting Foundation, and other stakeholders, apart from consumer organisations.

     

    The whole controversy rose after an order of the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Arbitration Tribunal of 28 May 2010 was challenged in the Supreme Court, which had on 16 April this year said: “…However, we direct that for a period of three months, the impugned tariff, which is in force as on today, shall continue. Within the said period, TRAI shall look into the matter de novo, as directed in the impugned judgment, and shall re–determine the tariff after hearing the contentions of all the stake holders….”

     

     TRAI had issued a consultation paper in this connection, and also invited comments from stakeholders by June-end. Though several stakeholders have already responded in writing, they were today given a final opportunity to send in their written comments by 8 July.

     

     On behalf of TRAI, the meet was attended by member R K Arnold, Dr Vijayalakshmy K Gupta, principal advisor N Parameswaran and secretary Sudhir Gupta. Others among the approximately 100 stakeholders who attended were IBF’s Sailesh Shah, Sony’s Naresh Chahal, Star’s Pulak Bagchi, a representative of Siticable and Cable Operators Federation of India’s Roop Sharma.

     

    Cable operator and journalist K K Sharma said most cable operators charged the same fee from commercial or non-commercial subscribers.

     

    A representative of the hotel industry said that it did not differentiate between a commercial or non-commercial subscriber. 

     

    Broadcasters representatives insisted that a lot of the investment went into production of content and so advertising was important, but some stakeholders said that encrypted channels should not be allowed to take commercials.

     

    Among the questions that the TRAI had asked in the consultation paper was whether stakeholders agreed with the definitions of ‘commercial establishment, ‘shop’ and ‘commercial subscriber’ given by TRAI; whether there was a need to further categorise commercial subscribers; tariff for commercial subscribers and whether it should be the same as for ordinary subscribers.