Tag: Telecom Regulatory Authority of India

M2M communications feedback time extended till 12 January

NEW DELHI: As M2M communication is an upcoming vertical covering variety of issues, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has for the second time extended the date for responses to its paper to 12 January 2017 and for counter-comments up to the 19 January 2017.

Noting that no further extension will be given, TRAI has said that the second extension follows the request by industry associations due to cross sectoral impact of M2M and lnternet of Things.

TRAI has written to all the state governments and union territories and various ministries of central government seeking their inputs for the sectors those are foreseen to get impacted with the deployment of M2M devices. Inputs from wider consultation with state governments & UTs and various Ministries will be valuable in forming a comprehensive recommendation by the Authority.

The Consultation Paper is on “Spectrum, Roaming and QoS related requirements in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Communications” dated 18 October 2016.

In the paper which posed 16 questions, TRAI said the digital space had witnessed exponential evolution in the last couple of years and would continue to evolve rapidly. The latest entrant to the digital space is the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications.

Expansion and evolution of networks, falling costs of hardware like sensors and actuators, increasing battery life, new business models etc are the major factors leading to the emergence of services like remote monitoring of patients, automatic security systems, connected cars, smart grid etc. The connected devices deliver innovative services by utilising the M2M communication technologies.

M2M communication has potential to bring substantial social and economic benefits to governments, citizens, end-users and businesses through increase in productivity and competitiveness, improvements in service delivery, optimal use of scarce resources as well as creation of new jobs.

Although forecasts indicate a significant opportunity in this field, this industry is still in a nascent stage. The M2M ecosystem is composed of a large number of diverse players, deploying innovative services across different networks, technologies and devices. Providing clarity and consistency of regulation for equivalent services, as well as policies that enable growth, will play a significant role in fully capturing its opportunity to stimulate this market.

The government has recognised the potential of M2M communication and emphasized the same in the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012.

Accordingly in May 2015, the Government had come out with its ‘National Telecom M2M roadmap’ with the purpose of boosting development of M2M based products and to provide efficient citizen centric services in India.

The paper is available on the TRAI website trai.gov.in

December 6, 2016
M2M communications feedback time extended till 12 January

NEW DELHI: As M2M communication is an upcoming vertical covering variety of issues, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has for the second time extended the date for responses to its paper to 12 January 2017 and for counter-comments up to the 19 January 2017.

Noting that no further extension will be given, TRAI has said that the second extension follows the request by industry associations due to cross sectoral impact of M2M and lnternet of Things.

TRAI has written to all the state governments and union territories and various ministries of central government seeking their inputs for the sectors those are foreseen to get impacted with the deployment of M2M devices. Inputs from wider consultation with state governments & UTs and various Ministries will be valuable in forming a comprehensive recommendation by the Authority.

The Consultation Paper is on “Spectrum, Roaming and QoS related requirements in Machine-to-Machine (M2M) Communications” dated 18 October 2016.

In the paper which posed 16 questions, TRAI said the digital space had witnessed exponential evolution in the last couple of years and would continue to evolve rapidly. The latest entrant to the digital space is the Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communications.

Expansion and evolution of networks, falling costs of hardware like sensors and actuators, increasing battery life, new business models etc are the major factors leading to the emergence of services like remote monitoring of patients, automatic security systems, connected cars, smart grid etc. The connected devices deliver innovative services by utilising the M2M communication technologies.

M2M communication has potential to bring substantial social and economic benefits to governments, citizens, end-users and businesses through increase in productivity and competitiveness, improvements in service delivery, optimal use of scarce resources as well as creation of new jobs.

Although forecasts indicate a significant opportunity in this field, this industry is still in a nascent stage. The M2M ecosystem is composed of a large number of diverse players, deploying innovative services across different networks, technologies and devices. Providing clarity and consistency of regulation for equivalent services, as well as policies that enable growth, will play a significant role in fully capturing its opportunity to stimulate this market.

The government has recognised the potential of M2M communication and emphasized the same in the National Telecom Policy (NTP) 2012.

Accordingly in May 2015, the Government had come out with its ‘National Telecom M2M roadmap’ with the purpose of boosting development of M2M based products and to provide efficient citizen centric services in India.

The paper is available on the TRAI website trai.gov.in

December 6, 2016
FM Radio revenues witness seasonal slump in Q4-16, Q1-17

BENGALURU: Generally the Indian private FM industry witnesses a quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) advertisement (ad) revenue slump in the first quarter of every year (Q1, quarter ended 30 June), which may sometimes carry over to the second quarter (Q2, quarter ended 30 September) of the fiscal. Since fiscal 2014, the industry has also seen fourth quarter (Q4, quarter ended 31 March) revenue slumps. Continuing the trend, private FM in India has seen a drop in revenue for quarters ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-16) and 30 June 2016 (Q1-17). As mentioned above trend was noticed Q4-14 and Q1-15 onwards, when the country held general elections and political parties used this so very local medium to garner votes.

As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), for Q1-17, 244 radio stations had consolidated ad revenues of Rs 468.08 crore, down 9.81 percent q-o-q as compared to the Rs 514.75 crore reported by 242 stations in Q4-16. The last quarter of the previous fiscal also saw ad revenue decline of 4.35 percent from Rs 533.70 crore reported for its immediate quarter that ended on 31 December 2015 (Q3-15).

Please refer to Figure A below for FM Radio Ad Revenue over a five year plus period spanning a 21 quarter period starting with the quarter ended 30 June 2011 (Q1-12) until the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q1-17) as per TRAI data. The amounts are in Rs crore and rounded off to the nearest decimal place.

As is obvious from the red dots on the chartabove, Q1-12, Q1-13, Q1-14, Q1-15, Q1-16 and Q1-17 have all seen q-o-q revenue drops, as have Q4-14, Q4-15 and as mentioned above- Q4-16.

Figure B below shows the q-o-q and year-over-year FM Radio Ad revenue trends. Generally y-o-y, revenues have been higher across all quarters in the period under consideration in this report, except for Q3-12 that saw a y-o-y ad revenue decline. For Q3-11, TRAI Indicator Reports mentioned ad revenue of Rs 284.88 crore from 227 radio stations or an average revenue of Rs 1.25 crore per station, as compared to ad revenue per station of Rs 1.20 crore for Q3-12.

Conclusion

Overall, despite the year-end andnew fiscal drops, ad revenues as well as ad revenues per station show a linear increasing trend as more and more advertisers have begun to understand the value proposition this very local medium with a pan-India footprint can offer. Further, the third quarter of the fiscal (Q3, quarter ended 31 December) is also the festival quarter of the year in India – a sweet quarter as far as the radio industry is concerned. The industry should see revenues rising in Q3-17.

A few of the companies such as JagranPrakashan that has large networks like Radio City and Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) which has the Radio Mirchi network in the country have already started operations of the new stations that they obtained in the FM Phase 3 auctions. The revenue of the new stations acquired in phase 3 auctions by other players such as Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL, Big FM) and HT Media Limited (Hindustan Times fame, Fever FM) if/once they start operations this fiscal, the radio industry should report substantial revenue increases. Profitability may take a hit initially, but over time that too is bound to change for the better.

Results for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 of companies whose financials are within the public domain can at the most be termed a mixed bag. While ENIL has reported a growth in revenue, its profit after tax – both on a y-o-y and a q-o-q basis have been hit with a70.3 percent y-o-y decline and a51.7 percent q-o-q decline.

ENIL won 17 stations in Phase 3 auctions and has launched 4 new stations in Q2-17 – at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat and Jaipur. Earlier the company had launched Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kochi stations. Bengaluru wasRadio Mirchi’s first launch in the second frequencies network.

However, ENIL managing director and CEO Prashant Panday is upbeat. In ENIL’s Q2-17 results press release he said, “We have stepped up marketing spends and early research indicates that we have made a strong start and in fact have become leaders in key markets. I am confident this will translate into a stronger business in the years ahead!”

Note:The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

December 5, 2016
FM Radio revenues witness seasonal slump in Q4-16, Q1-17

BENGALURU: Generally the Indian private FM industry witnesses a quarter-over-quarter (q-o-q) advertisement (ad) revenue slump in the first quarter of every year (Q1, quarter ended 30 June), which may sometimes carry over to the second quarter (Q2, quarter ended 30 September) of the fiscal. Since fiscal 2014, the industry has also seen fourth quarter (Q4, quarter ended 31 March) revenue slumps. Continuing the trend, private FM in India has seen a drop in revenue for quarters ended 31 March 2016 (Q4-16) and 30 June 2016 (Q1-17). As mentioned above trend was noticed Q4-14 and Q1-15 onwards, when the country held general elections and political parties used this so very local medium to garner votes.

As per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), for Q1-17, 244 radio stations had consolidated ad revenues of Rs 468.08 crore, down 9.81 percent q-o-q as compared to the Rs 514.75 crore reported by 242 stations in Q4-16. The last quarter of the previous fiscal also saw ad revenue decline of 4.35 percent from Rs 533.70 crore reported for its immediate quarter that ended on 31 December 2015 (Q3-15).

Please refer to Figure A below for FM Radio Ad Revenue over a five year plus period spanning a 21 quarter period starting with the quarter ended 30 June 2011 (Q1-12) until the quarter ended 30 September 2016 (Q1-17) as per TRAI data. The amounts are in Rs crore and rounded off to the nearest decimal place.

As is obvious from the red dots on the chartabove, Q1-12, Q1-13, Q1-14, Q1-15, Q1-16 and Q1-17 have all seen q-o-q revenue drops, as have Q4-14, Q4-15 and as mentioned above- Q4-16.

Figure B below shows the q-o-q and year-over-year FM Radio Ad revenue trends. Generally y-o-y, revenues have been higher across all quarters in the period under consideration in this report, except for Q3-12 that saw a y-o-y ad revenue decline. For Q3-11, TRAI Indicator Reports mentioned ad revenue of Rs 284.88 crore from 227 radio stations or an average revenue of Rs 1.25 crore per station, as compared to ad revenue per station of Rs 1.20 crore for Q3-12.

Conclusion

Overall, despite the year-end andnew fiscal drops, ad revenues as well as ad revenues per station show a linear increasing trend as more and more advertisers have begun to understand the value proposition this very local medium with a pan-India footprint can offer. Further, the third quarter of the fiscal (Q3, quarter ended 31 December) is also the festival quarter of the year in India – a sweet quarter as far as the radio industry is concerned. The industry should see revenues rising in Q3-17.

A few of the companies such as JagranPrakashan that has large networks like Radio City and Entertainment Network India Limited (ENIL) which has the Radio Mirchi network in the country have already started operations of the new stations that they obtained in the FM Phase 3 auctions. The revenue of the new stations acquired in phase 3 auctions by other players such as Reliance Broadcast Network Limited (RBNL, Big FM) and HT Media Limited (Hindustan Times fame, Fever FM) if/once they start operations this fiscal, the radio industry should report substantial revenue increases. Profitability may take a hit initially, but over time that too is bound to change for the better.

Results for the quarter ended 30 September 2016 of companies whose financials are within the public domain can at the most be termed a mixed bag. While ENIL has reported a growth in revenue, its profit after tax – both on a y-o-y and a q-o-q basis have been hit with a70.3 percent y-o-y decline and a51.7 percent q-o-q decline.

ENIL won 17 stations in Phase 3 auctions and has launched 4 new stations in Q2-17 – at Chandigarh, Ahmedabad, Surat and Jaipur. Earlier the company had launched Bengaluru, Guwahati, Hyderabad and Kochi stations. Bengaluru wasRadio Mirchi’s first launch in the second frequencies network.

However, ENIL managing director and CEO Prashant Panday is upbeat. In ENIL’s Q2-17 results press release he said, “We have stepped up marketing spends and early research indicates that we have made a strong start and in fact have become leaders in key markets. I am confident this will translate into a stronger business in the years ahead!”

Note:The unit of currency in this report is the Indian rupee – Rs (also conventionally represented by INR).The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used to denote money values. The basic conversion to the international norm would be:

(a) 100,00,000 = 100 lakh = 10,000,000 = 10 million = 1 crore.

(b) 10,000 lakh = 100 crore = 1 arab = 1 billion.

December 5, 2016
FB targets next billion Indians with local content and Express Wifi

MUMBAI: Like Google, Facebook understands that in order to increase their market share of the digital ad pie, it is crucial to target the next billion users. And hence a strong strategy is needed for its India operations. The next billion users on the platform are what will drive its business, both in terms of scale of operation and revenues.

Facebook is committed to this endeavour, says its south Asia and India managing director Umang Bedi and has taken major steps to keep the platform right, real and relevant for its Indian users.

India has one of the highest percentages of people accessing Facebook via their mobile phones. Out of the 85 million active monthly users who access the platform from India, 81 million do it through their mobile devices. Nearly 95 per cent of the traffic Facebook gets from India is mobile. Needless to say, Fb has given special care to enhancing user experience in India on Facebook by making the platform functional even under slow internet.

“For us that is a welcome news. The wider the reach of internet, and mobile, the better we can connect businesses to their right audience,” shared Bedi.

The company’s flagship project, and perhaps most controversial in the local market, Free Basics, was designed to address the issue of internet penetration in rural India , but failed to move opinion in its favour resulting in its ban by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) earlier this year due to its conflict with principles of net neutrality in the market.

“Since the government’s mandate, Facebook has ceased all operations of Free Basics and concentrated on other sectors instead,” Bedi gave a short response when quizzed about Free Basics in a recent interview.

To push forth FB’s internet.org initiative in India, the social media giant has instead launched what it calls ‘Express Wi-Fi’, which too promises to help connect rural India digitally.

“We have recently piloted Express WiFI that works with telecom operators, internet service providers, and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world. We’re currently live in India, and are expanding to other regions soon,” Bedi shared.

While Bedi doesn’t clarify whether Express WiFi would also follow Free Basic’s principle of zero charges on data, its page on internet.org defines it as “ fast, affordable and reliable internet” hinting that the service will cost users some money, in-line with the TRAI directives.

Bedi shares that the biggest challenge Facebook faces in penetrating the further into the market is its relevance in India through local content. “Even the international mobile operators association GSMA recognises the single biggest issue of mobile and internet penetration in India is producing relevant local content for the right device in the right format,” shared Bedi. Making the platform available in 12 Indian languages is another step forward in the direction along with promoting content partnerships with several regional players.

November 29, 2016
FB targets next billion Indians with local content and Express Wifi

MUMBAI: Like Google, Facebook understands that in order to increase their market share of the digital ad pie, it is crucial to target the next billion users. And hence a strong strategy is needed for its India operations. The next billion users on the platform are what will drive its business, both in terms of scale of operation and revenues.

Facebook is committed to this endeavour, says its south Asia and India managing director Umang Bedi and has taken major steps to keep the platform right, real and relevant for its Indian users.

India has one of the highest percentages of people accessing Facebook via their mobile phones. Out of the 85 million active monthly users who access the platform from India, 81 million do it through their mobile devices. Nearly 95 per cent of the traffic Facebook gets from India is mobile. Needless to say, Fb has given special care to enhancing user experience in India on Facebook by making the platform functional even under slow internet.

“For us that is a welcome news. The wider the reach of internet, and mobile, the better we can connect businesses to their right audience,” shared Bedi.

The company’s flagship project, and perhaps most controversial in the local market, Free Basics, was designed to address the issue of internet penetration in rural India , but failed to move opinion in its favour resulting in its ban by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) earlier this year due to its conflict with principles of net neutrality in the market.

“Since the government’s mandate, Facebook has ceased all operations of Free Basics and concentrated on other sectors instead,” Bedi gave a short response when quizzed about Free Basics in a recent interview.

To push forth FB’s internet.org initiative in India, the social media giant has instead launched what it calls ‘Express Wi-Fi’, which too promises to help connect rural India digitally.

“We have recently piloted Express WiFI that works with telecom operators, internet service providers, and local entrepreneurs to help expand connectivity to underserved locations around the world. We’re currently live in India, and are expanding to other regions soon,” Bedi shared.

While Bedi doesn’t clarify whether Express WiFi would also follow Free Basic’s principle of zero charges on data, its page on internet.org defines it as “ fast, affordable and reliable internet” hinting that the service will cost users some money, in-line with the TRAI directives.

Bedi shares that the biggest challenge Facebook faces in penetrating the further into the market is its relevance in India through local content. “Even the international mobile operators association GSMA recognises the single biggest issue of mobile and internet penetration in India is producing relevant local content for the right device in the right format,” shared Bedi. Making the platform available in 12 Indian languages is another step forward in the direction along with promoting content partnerships with several regional players.

November 29, 2016
Public Wi-Fi: TRAI extends time for responses

NEW DELHI: In view of the importance attached to public Wi-Fi systems, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has extended time for responses to its consultation paper till 9 December 2016 but stressed no further extension would be given.

The paper issued on 15 November was the second one issued on the subject of Wi-Fi and dealt with scalable public interoperability of Wi-Fi networks.

Earlier, TRAI had said it realised the importance of public Wi-Fi networks as complementary to existing landline and cellular mobile infrastructure in improving broadband penetration and adoption of Digital India. Earlier on 13 July 2016, TRAI had issued a paper on “Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks” which was followed by reactions and then a workshop in Bengaluru.

The objective of the new paper posing six questions is two-fold:

a) To explore whether the model proposed in this Note can be incorporated in Public Wi-Fi networks to promote appropriate monetisation and business models for sustainable and scalable infrastructure deployment.

b) To explore the roles of different stakeholders in the Public Wi-Fi network value chain and build an ecosystem for promoting scalable and sustainable partnerships for large scale nation wide deployment.

Also read: Public Wi-Fi: TRAI plans to evolve model, releases paper

November 24, 2016
Public Wi-Fi: TRAI extends time for responses

NEW DELHI: In view of the importance attached to public Wi-Fi systems, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has extended time for responses to its consultation paper till 9 December 2016 but stressed no further extension would be given.

The paper issued on 15 November was the second one issued on the subject of Wi-Fi and dealt with scalable public interoperability of Wi-Fi networks.

Earlier, TRAI had said it realised the importance of public Wi-Fi networks as complementary to existing landline and cellular mobile infrastructure in improving broadband penetration and adoption of Digital India. Earlier on 13 July 2016, TRAI had issued a paper on “Proliferation of Broadband through Public Wi-Fi Networks” which was followed by reactions and then a workshop in Bengaluru.

The objective of the new paper posing six questions is two-fold:

a) To explore whether the model proposed in this Note can be incorporated in Public Wi-Fi networks to promote appropriate monetisation and business models for sustainable and scalable infrastructure deployment.

b) To explore the roles of different stakeholders in the Public Wi-Fi network value chain and build an ecosystem for promoting scalable and sustainable partnerships for large scale nation wide deployment.

Also read: Public Wi-Fi: TRAI plans to evolve model, releases paper

November 24, 2016
TRAI reduces ceiling tariff for mobile banking services

NEW DELHI: It couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment, especially when the country is reeling under a severe cash crunch in the aftermath of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in an order yesterday reduced the ceiling tariff for the use of unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)-based mobile banking services from Rs 1.50 to Rs.0.50.

TRAI also amended the Mobile Banking (Quality of Service) Regulations to increase the number of stages from 5 to 8 per USSD session.

These amendments will facilitate banks, their agents or any entity authorized by the Reserve Bank of India for better delivery of banking and payment services to the consumers through mobile phones over USSD.

Though these regulatory decisions are an outcome of a detailed consultation process initiated in August 2016, the timing cannot be missed as PM Modi-led government’s move on arresting black money and bring about more transparency through digitalization, including digital banking, has led to partial chaos in society and economy in the short to medium terms.

“The availability of and easy access to banking services for all our citizens is a major objective of public policy. However, the harsh reality is that a large section of our population is still unbanked/under-banked. With a significant penetration of mobile telephony in rural India, the mobile phone can be leveraged to achieve the goal of financial inclusion. Accordingly, in November, 2013, with a view to facilitate mobile banking for financial inclusion, TRAI had established a framework to facilitate the agents of the banks to interface with the access service providers for use of SMS, USSD and IVR channels to provide mobile banking services and prescribed ceiling tariff of Rs. 1.50 per USSD session for USSD-based mobile banking service. However, all these initiatives did not lead to the desired result and both the number of transactions and success rate are below expectation,” TRAI said in a statement while mandating the tariff reductions.

The latest diktat on USSD tariffs, which come into force with immediate effect, would, according to TRAI, hopefully result in greater financial inclusion in the country and contribute to the fulfillment of an important aspect of Digital India by encouraging a ‘less cash’ society.

Welcoming the government’s initiatives to accelerate India’s progress into a `less cash’ economy, Vodafone India MD & CEO Sunil Sood said, “Vodafone India is committed to help actualise the government’s several initiatives designed to make India a digital economy. To ease the burden of masses, we are waiving off all USSD charges presently levied for mobile banking till 31 December 2016. As several million customers use feature phones, we are hopeful that this free access to mobile banking will encourage them to adopt it as their preferred and convenient mode for banking.”

November 23, 2016
TRAI reduces ceiling tariff for mobile banking services

NEW DELHI: It couldn’t have come at a more opportune moment, especially when the country is reeling under a severe cash crunch in the aftermath of demonetization of Rs 500 and Rs 1,000 currency notes. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in an order yesterday reduced the ceiling tariff for the use of unstructured supplementary service data (USSD)-based mobile banking services from Rs 1.50 to Rs.0.50.

TRAI also amended the Mobile Banking (Quality of Service) Regulations to increase the number of stages from 5 to 8 per USSD session.

These amendments will facilitate banks, their agents or any entity authorized by the Reserve Bank of India for better delivery of banking and payment services to the consumers through mobile phones over USSD.

Though these regulatory decisions are an outcome of a detailed consultation process initiated in August 2016, the timing cannot be missed as PM Modi-led government’s move on arresting black money and bring about more transparency through digitalization, including digital banking, has led to partial chaos in society and economy in the short to medium terms.

“The availability of and easy access to banking services for all our citizens is a major objective of public policy. However, the harsh reality is that a large section of our population is still unbanked/under-banked. With a significant penetration of mobile telephony in rural India, the mobile phone can be leveraged to achieve the goal of financial inclusion. Accordingly, in November, 2013, with a view to facilitate mobile banking for financial inclusion, TRAI had established a framework to facilitate the agents of the banks to interface with the access service providers for use of SMS, USSD and IVR channels to provide mobile banking services and prescribed ceiling tariff of Rs. 1.50 per USSD session for USSD-based mobile banking service. However, all these initiatives did not lead to the desired result and both the number of transactions and success rate are below expectation,” TRAI said in a statement while mandating the tariff reductions.

The latest diktat on USSD tariffs, which come into force with immediate effect, would, according to TRAI, hopefully result in greater financial inclusion in the country and contribute to the fulfillment of an important aspect of Digital India by encouraging a ‘less cash’ society.

Welcoming the government’s initiatives to accelerate India’s progress into a `less cash’ economy, Vodafone India MD & CEO Sunil Sood said, “Vodafone India is committed to help actualise the government’s several initiatives designed to make India a digital economy. To ease the burden of masses, we are waiving off all USSD charges presently levied for mobile banking till 31 December 2016. As several million customers use feature phones, we are hopeful that this free access to mobile banking will encourage them to adopt it as their preferred and convenient mode for banking.”

November 23, 2016