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Tag: TRAI consultation paper

  • TRAI gives buildings a digital reality check with connectivity rating reboot

    TRAI gives buildings a digital reality check with connectivity rating reboot

    MUMBAI: In a country obsessed with skyscrapers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is more interested in what’s inside the walls—signal strength. On 22 May, TRAI issued a formal response to the department of telecommunications (DoT), which had sought clarifications on the regulator’s earlier recommendation for a new system to rate buildings and areas based on digital connectivity.

    The recommendations in question—first proposed on 20 February 2023—aim to address the gnawing issue of poor signal penetration in buildings, despite India’s heady digital growth. While rooftop towers and fibre lines have made it to headlines, indoor connectivity has lagged, often trapped behind concrete, bureaucracy, and dated building codes.

    TRAI pointed out that despite several policy nudges over the years, in-building connectivity continues to be a digital blind spot. With the fusion of IoT and smart workplaces on the rise, there is an urgent need to bake digital connectivity infrastructure (DCI) into the design of new buildings—much like water, electricity, or fire exits.

    The 2023 recommendations call for a rating system embedded within local building bye-laws and municipal approvals. TRAI argues this will not only prepare buildings for the 5G era but also avoid a repeat of the signal dead zones plaguing 4G users. And with 6G already on the horizon, the Authority warns that the higher frequency bands used will face even steeper resistance from walls and materials.

    TRAI’s formal response, now uploaded on its website, comes in reply to the DoT’s back-reference dated 19 March 2025. For those seeking fine print or footnotes, the advisor (QoS-I), Tejpal Singh, remains available for clarifications.

  • Trai seeks views on Big Data & AI adoption to improve telecom services in future

    Trai seeks views on Big Data & AI adoption to improve telecom services in future

    Mumbai: The 5G spectrum auction that happened recently is a big step towards the launch of new internet and telecom experience in India. 5G will take India’s telecom services to the next level and bring it at par with countries like China, the US, and South Korea.

    A step towards fueling future innovation, the government is now trying to leverage & integrate artificial intelligence (AI) and big data (BD) in the telecommunication sector as both are inherently synergistic. To make this possible, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released a consultation paper on “Leveraging AI and BD in the telecommunication sector.” The regulatory body has asked its stakeholders to submit any consent and issues regarding the consultation paper by 16 September & 30 September will be the last date for counter comments.

    5G would bring advancement in the media & entertainment industry as the consumers soon be able to access faster internet speed and services. It will enable faster download speeds, lower latency (the response time to transfer computer information), greater flexibility and ability to support more devices.

    Through the 5G auction, a total of 51.2 GHz spectrum was sold and 71 percent of total spectrum was put up for sale. It helped the government to earn a record Rs 1.5 lakh crore recently.

    Further, the telecom regulator, in its consultation paper, sought opinions on areas where the telecom networks’ present and future capabilities could be used to leverage AI and BD. The paper also presented examples of AI and BD already deployed in telecom networks by the operators in India & other jurisdictions.

    Leveraging AI and BD in 6G era

    The regulator also looked at developments happening in the 6G and possibilities emerging in the 6G era to leverage AI and BD in the telecom sector as well as other sectors where telecom can play an important and crucial role.

    The consultation paper followed the department of telecom’s referral to Trai in June 2019, in which the department requested a recommendation on leveraging AI and BD in a synchronised and effective manner to improve the overall quality of service, spectrum management, network security, and reliability.

    The paper stated, “It has been noted that 5G and beyond networks will provide a plethora of data that may be useful for telecom as well as other sectors. Edge computing in the 5G era may offer opportunities to other sectors to train and validate their AI models in the telecom networks.”

    “In 5G and beyond, networks may also offer privacy-preserving architectures to adopt and accelerate AI and BD in other sectors,” the paper added.

    The paper covered risks associated with the adoption of AI and BD, such as unethical use, bias in data and algorithms, model instability, regulatory and legal noncompliance, and risk mitigation methods and mechanisms. Further, there is a risk of privacy among users, which includes data exploitation, the risk of identification and tracking, and individual profiling.

    It also further stated, “If privacy concerns are not addressed and trust is not instilled among the users, then it may become one of the biggest concerns in the adoption of AI.”

    The paper’s focus was on privacy concerns and their impact on developing intelligent solutions. The paper identified and presented various solutions and initiatives that may be taken to address the risks and concerns. It also suggested ways to overcome these constraints for faster adoption of AI.

    Trai mentioned in its paper that they also noted the latest developments in the field of AI, which may be useful in multi-domain, multi-vendor, and multi-AI model environments.

  • NTO ambiguity resulting in ad rev drop for small broadcasters, niche channels

    NTO ambiguity resulting in ad rev drop for small broadcasters, niche channels

    MUMBAI: Just when it felt like the dust on the NTO had settled, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) came out with yet another consultation paper reviewing the order, seeking more fundamental changes in channel pricing and bouquet formation. As clarified by TRAI chairman RS Sharma, while the regulatory body does not plan to revise the pricing framework, it is surely looking at fine-tuning the existing parameters as consumers are facing certain issues because of the current set of rules.

    This has once again left a big question mark on the fate of broadcasters and might have a bigger impact on advertising revenues as well.

    Y&A Collective co-founder S Yesudas told Indiantelevision.com that this uncertainty over the tariff order and channel pricing will impact nice channels the most, resulting into a dip in their revenue.

    He said, “The biggest sufferers will be niche channels, particularly those which are mid and bottom-rung. Even as the power to choose rests with consumers and the general mindset of sensitivity for the paid-for options resulting in those always taking precedence, the snacking-in viewership will reduce.  Between the two time periods, pre-new tariff order to July 19, there’s apparently already a drop of approximately 7 per cent of the total TV impressions. This will consequently mean revenue reduction.”

    HyperCollective founder and CCO KV Sridhar (Pops) also agreed that the past few months have seen a dip in the revenues for broadcasters, barring a few big ones, because of many reasons like the economic slowdown and growth of digital bouquets, along with the NTO.

    “The NTO is putting a lot of pressure on the broadcasters and some easing out is required, maybe not so suddenly but definitely. The bigger groups like Star and Sony can survive in the turmoil, but it is difficult for smaller groups, especially independent channels and some regional channels,” he said.

    TheSmallBigIdea CEO & co-founder Harikrishnan Pillai shared that this ambiguity over the tariff might result in advertisers taking their money to digital platforms than spending on television.

    He said, “One needs to reckon that any industry with fluttering policy fuels questions on its stability. While TV broadcasting is the most robust of all mediums, the effect of such policy-based tremors cannot be ignored. Especially by smaller TV channels, which already are fighting for eyeballs. It is likely that they might be ignored by the advertiser for other lucrative digital options. Investment into fresh content might take a back seat, which might further make it difficult for certain channels to attract advertisers on the back of new shows."

    Sridhar also noted that the loyalty of the consumer is with the content and not the channel. If they can access the same content on OTT platforms or other media, they will not want to spend on purchasing the channels.

    He further elaborated, “Advertisers are interested in viewership only. Also, they would play their ads during the content that is relevant to them. They are not going to place an ad on your channel even if you offer cheaper slots, or guarantee greater reach. Every advertiser is looking for relevant content now. If the content is not good, your channel will drop. OTT, therefore, is a big hindrance for the broadcasters in getting revenue.”

    While the tariff order seems to be generating problems for the broadcasters, Yesudas feels that it will be beneficial for the marketers and advertisers. He said, “Marketing and adverting industry will only stand to gain from this as there will be further consolidation of the viewership pie.  While the top-rung channels will find a place in almost all media plans (with reduced  cost per contact) the mid-and bottom-rung channels which no longer can only stay focused on transactional and passive advertising time selling will also embrace true innovation in helping clients solve certain marketing challenges within a segment of consumers, they can influence.”

  • IAMAI suggests advertisers pay 0.25% of media spends to strengthen BARC measurement

    IAMAI suggests advertisers pay 0.25% of media spends to strengthen BARC measurement

    MUMBAI: Presenting counter comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) consultation paper on BARC TV viewership measurement, the Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI) has said that advertisers can pay 0.25 per cent of their media spends for TV viewership measurement every year. It will not only help them in making judicious investments but will also largely contribute to the process of increasing panel size for audience measurement.

    The association noted this in response to the question asking about methodologies and technologies to rapidly increase the panel size for television audience measurement and the related commercial challenges. It wrote, “Use of multiple technologies such as peoplemeter, RPD, channel video players, softwares measuring the consumption of OTT and data modelling should help increase the overall sample size without commensurate increase in the costs. Advertisers can pay 0.25 per cent of their media spend for measurement every year to make the currency more robust which in-turn helps them to make judicious investments.”

    IAMAI also stated that it feels Indian Society of Advertisers (ISA) and The Advertising Agencies Association of India (AAAI) members, who hold 20 per cent share each in BARC, are not much involved in the currency.

    It mentioned in its counter comments, “At present, IBF owns 60 per cent of BARC and 20 per cent each is owned by AAAI and ISA. As a result, IBF has a greater say in the functioning of BARC. However, globally, higher percentage of revenue is contributed by media owners.”

    “In past TRAI consulting papers, most contributions also came from the media owners. It seems ISA and AAAI members are not that involved with overall currency. Consultation with these constituents may help ensure equal contribution in functioning of BARC by all the three industry bodies, irrespective of the share of revenue contributed. Presently it is felt that with 60 per cent share IBF controls day-to-day functioning of BARC and future course of action,” the comment further read.

    IAMAI also vouched for introducing a competitive currency of viewership management; one based on peoplemeter and the other based on RPD.

    It noted, “We can do this for different types of data, whether from the set-top box in the home or mobile services that enable subscriber viewing on tablets or phones. This will add Digital Viewership Measurement, which is currently missing.”

    “The 2nd study of RPD can be done with Internet and Mobile Association of India (IAMAI), who represents most of the digital media and publishers, in partnership with relevant stakeholders,” its comment mentioned.

    Most of the broadcasters, in their responses to the paper, had denied the need of introducing competition in the viewership measurement domain, citing reasons like it would lead to chaos and duplication of data and skewing of results to the convenience of a few stakeholders.

    TRAI had released the said consultation paper in December last year to seek suggestions on how the existing TV viewership management system can be made more robust. It asked several important questions to various stakeholders, including if the current measuring system is apposite, should the sample size of the population be increased, and related commercial viabilities of the responses.

    The stakeholders were asked to file the comments by 2 January and counter comments by 16 January. However, the dates were further extended to 2 February and 16 February, respectively.

  • Broadcasters support return of RPD in BARC measurement module

    Broadcasters support return of RPD in BARC measurement module

    MUMBAI: Broadcasters have shown unified support towards the need to improve the current audience measurement technique used by the Broadcast Audience Research Council (BARC).

    In their responses to the multiple queries that TRAI had put forth in a consultation paper broadcasters—ABP News Network, Sony Pictures Network, and Discovery Communications India–have contended that the introduction of Return Path Data (RPD) vide digital set-top boxes (STB) will improve the measurement process. They also noted that raw data should be provided to the broadcasters as it will help them in improving their efficiency.

    Another point raised by the broadcasters is that there should be an increase in the number of sample homes used for collecting data. Discovery Communications India noted, “All STBs should facilitate RPD technology, however, the same can be considered to be done in phases. The additional cost would only be limited to include the requisite software and hardware to support the technology.”

    However, the broadcasters did not propose any change in the stakeholding pattern of BARC. Currently, IBF has 60 per cent shareholding while the ISA and AAAI hold 20 per cent each in BARC. They also declined the need to introduce competition in the viewership measurement domain. Discovery Communications India stated that it would lead to chaos and duplication of data while Sony Pictures Networks said it will lead to skewing of results to the convenience of a few stakeholders.

    Responding to the query if DPOs should be mandated to facilitate the collection of viewership data, broadcasters differed. While ABP News Network denied the possibility completely stating that it might lead to data tampering, Discovery Communications India supported the idea saying, “As the subscriber data is already available with them hence it would make the process time efficient and the process easier in toto.”

    Sony Pictures said, “In order for the data collection process to be fair, neutral and immune from any bias, all interested parties including DPOs should be kept outside of the process. However, if DPOs are mandated to roll out hybrid STBs or RPD technology to capture viewership data for greater reach resulting the data should directly reach BARC or else there could be scope for manipulation as discussed above (DPO to act as a pure pass-through). Hence, stringent technology and security checks should be deployed to ensure that the data is not manipulated.”

    In addition to this, Sony Pictures also asked for the draft Personal Data Protection Bill 2018, proposed by the Justice Srikrishna Committee, to be complied with to ensure the privacy of individual information while data collection for viewership counts.

    TRAI had released the said consultation paper in December last year, seeking responses of the various stakeholders to several pertinent questions related to TV viewership measurement. The consultation was a result of various stakeholder meetings asking to improve the existing BARC mentoring format. The last date to file the responses was extended by a month to 2 February on 28 December 2018.