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Tag: Trai
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Trai pitches for duty slash on STB components, seeks removal of entertainment tax on cable TV
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Trai faces QoS issue to ensure improved Cas rollout
NEW DELHI: Many cable households are unhappy with repeated signal failure and Trai is now faced with the issue of what to do about enforcing Quality of Service provisions, sources tell indiantelevision.com.
One of the major confusions in the market in the national Capital is what are the cable operators doing about the billing of chosen channels.
At the moment, the operators are giving all the channels that can be shown in India, and they have been telling the subscribers, those who have filled up the forms indicating their choice, that at the end of the month, they would be charged for what they have indicated in the forms.
“The COs have told us that the programming for each STB is taking time, but they would charge each household what the latter has opted for,” the official said.
He said also that the COs are watching the scenario. “They feel that in a month or two, subscribers might want to drop some channels and want others, or just want more channels than they have opted for now. So then, they would have to do the programming all over again.”
The official felt that the COs want the situation to stabilise before they get into programming for “watch what you pay for”.
However, in many cases, the COs have registered the subscribers and taken the advance charges at the beginning, when they gave the STBs but have so far not returned for collecting the advance fees for February.
“This means subscribers would suddenly be faced with having to pay for two months if the COs do not take the fees for February now,” said an official, agreeing that all this is causing more confusion than is good for the ongoing Cas rollout to regain the traction it has lost quite a bit of recently.
One MSO is not showing contact numbers in the appropriate window when the signal goes off, and still signal loss is quite a regular phenomenon and, though less than in the beginning, there is a lot of pixelisation of images.
The MSOs have so far not raised the issue of QoS being enforced, for reasons best known to them. But they are aware that this is one of the reasons for not just slowdown of Cas rollout, but in many cases, people wanting to return the boxes and settle for just the FTAs.
In a report last week, indiantelevision,com had reported the worries amongst MSOs on these issues, and their informing Trai that broadcasters and they themselves need to do attractive packaging and ensure QoS, but nothing seems to have materialised so far.
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TDSAT adjourns hearing as Nimbus approaches SC
NEW DELHI: The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today adjourned its hearing in the case by sports broadcaster Nimbus challenging the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) direction to its channels Neo Sports and Neo Sports Plus to reduce their subscriber price.
The adjournment till the second week of next month came after TDSAT was informed that Nimbus had filed a petition in the Supreme Court challenging the Delhi High Court order fixing Rs 37.25 as bouquet price for the two channels.
Earlier on 22 January, the High Court had dismissed an application by Nimbus and upheld the Trai order of 11 January fixing Rs 37.25 as bouquet price for the two channels. The order of the High Court had also made it clear that Nimbus could recover its cost at the rate of Rs 58.50 if its appeal before the TDSAT was accepted. The Trai order had also asked Nimbus to charge Rs 5 per channel in the areas covered by Conditional Access System (Cas).
Nimbus contended that Trai can fix the rates only under Section 11(2) of the Trai Act after due hearing to the concerned broadcaster, and not arbitrarily under Section 13 (2).
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STB availability key to Cas success
MUMBAI: Availability of set-top boxes (STBs) is one of the key concerns for the successful roll out of conditional access system, speakers at a workshop on “Cas and Digital CATV” said here today.
Cable operators should not only look at the price of the boxes but also the quality of features it offers as there is revenue to be earned from the consumers. “While what is being pushed now in India is basic boxes, there is need also to go in for middleware that enables enhanced facilities. The important question to be asked is what the boxes can do. Cable operators will be able to, after all, earn revenues from features like video-on-demand and gaming,” said Technosat managing director Irshad M Contractor.
The Dubai-based company is prepared to set up a manufacturing facility in India if the demand for STBs pick up. Technosat has boxes ranging from basic to premium features on MPEG-2 and is currently conducting trials on MPEG-4.
Though multi-system operators (MSOs) are currently importing boxes, several manufacturers in India are keen to come up with local production facilities. “We are introducing 4-5 flavours of STBs that are fully developed in India. The boxes will have personal video recorder (PVR) and digital video recorder (DVR). We are integrating the encryption system with Conax. We are also in talks with other Cas technology providers,” said Surbhi Broadband general manager sales P C Mishra.
The two-day workshop, which concluded today, was organised by Satellite & Cable TV (SCaT) magazine and attracted over 250 delegates. The focus was on facilitating cable operators to make the transition from analogue to digital cable. The issues covered ranged from digital headends to billing solutions for Cas.
Speaking on digital headends for simulcasting digital video broadcasting – cable (DVB-C), Peter Batt of Teleste said there was need to offer on demand TV and other value-added services. The third generation headends improved footprint and power consumption while offering unicast/multicast video services and triple play. But the fourth generation IP-centric headend for DVB-C and IPTV combined everything and offered “ultimate flexibility.”
Earlier SCaT editor and executive director Dinyar Contractor said Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) would mean rapid digital and Cas roll out as it would reach out to the smallest and far flung last mile operators (LMOs). Even as Cas made it unviable for LMOs to set up a digital Cas headend and offer a large pay bouquet, HITS offered several advantages to them.
“The transmodulator cost is as low as Rs 2000 per channel and the LMOs can assemble their own, local basic tier. It is economically attractive if the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) permits nationwide Cas,” he said.
SCaT chairman Sudeep Malhotra spoke on uplink and downlink policies, elaborating on the regulatory framework prescribed for the different genres of channels such as news and sports. “There are 164 Indian channels licensed to be uplinked from India. The channels that are registered and allowed to be downlinked into India amount to a total of 54 channels,” he said.
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Trai not for mandated Cas in rest of India
MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) feels Cas (conditional access system) should roll out voluntarily rather than be mandated in other parts of the country.
“We may think of mandatory Cas for the larger metros but in other parts of the country it may not be the best way forward. We haven’t, though, made up our mind on this. We have constituted a small group representing all the stakeholders to suggest on how to take voluntary Cas forward. We realise that Cas has gained momentum and wouldn’t like to miss on that opportunity,” said Trai advisor M C Chaube while speaking at a workshop on “Cas and Digital CATV,” organised by Satellite & Cable TV (SCaT) magazine in Mumbai.
With some cable operators continuing to transmit unencrypted signals in the Cas areas, the broadcast and cable sector regulator intends to come down heavily on them.
“We are aware that there are still slippages and there are complaints that encryption have not taken place in some areas. We are going to take action against this as it is at the core of Cas,” said Chaube.
Reacting to a suggestion from the three multi-system operators (Wire & Wireless India Ltd, Hathway Cable & Datacom and Incablenet) that Cas should be opened up to the other areas of Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata by April, Chaube said the process needed a certain run-up time. “Cas is not just about three MSOs. The smaller MSOs should be given time to prepare for laying out the digital infrastructure. Consolidation is bound to happen as digitalisation requires deep pockets, but as a regulator we shouldn’t have such a time frame in mind that makes it difficult for the smaller MSOs,” he added.
Trai would relook at such areas like pricing and a la carte issues in the middle of this year. “We are going to revisit at some of these decisions and take a call whether appropriate adjustments are needed. We would be examining such issues as similar pricing for all genres of channels, a la carte offerings and Rs 77 on free-to-air (FTA) channels,” Chaube said.
The seeding of set-top boxes (STBs) would touch 500000 in a week’s time out of an estimated cable and satellite home of 1.2 million in the Cas belt. “The average penetration would be 40 per cent. Kolkata is seeing slow offtake because regional channels are popular and they are in FTA mode. Our aim is not to see that boxes are sold but to offer consumers choice through Cas,” Chaube clarified. The penetration percentage though will be clearer when figures are available on the number of homes that have more than one TV sets.
The next stage of progress would be when consumer forms return to the MSOs and they are fed into the subscriber management system (SMS).
In case of voluntary Cas, the crucial element was for the broadcasters and MSOs to enter into commercial agreements, he added.
In a panel discussion, WWIL MD Jagjit Kohli pointed out that Trai should come out with some regulatory framework to facilitate voluntary Cas and Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS). “Broadcasters may not support voluntary Cas. So it would be essential for Trai to define some rules as the momentum for digitalisation should not be lost,” he added.
Hathway Cable & Datacom MD and CEO K Jayaraman pointed out that cable operators in non Cas areas should be ready to adopt digitalisation which has grown much faster in India than what was being initially preicted.
Incablenet head Ravi Mansukhani said the seeding process has been successful and the next step for MSOs would be to stop free access of pay channels in phases.
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Delhi hosts the first ‘Mobile Security India 2007’ seminar
MUMBAI: For the first time, the mobile majors, government officials and legal experts across the telecom industry, came together at Mobile Security India 2007 seminar, to discuss the issues related to mobile theft. Supported by Indian Cellular Association, sponsored by Samsung Telecommunications India and organized by Bharat Exhibitions, this seminar brought forth the critical issues and challenges faced by Indian mobile industry and discussed the legal and technical ways to retrieve the lost phones.
Mr. H.C.Ryu, Managing Director, Samsung Telecommunications India delivered the key note address at the inaugural session. Other panellists in the inaugural session were Shri S.D.Saxena, Director – Finance, BSNL; Mr. Jagbir Singh, CTO – Mobility, Bharti Airtel Ltd; Mr. D.P.S. Seth – Former Member, TRAI and Mr. T.R. Dua, Sr. Director, Cellular Operators Association of India. Vote of thanks was delivered by Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, National President, Indian Cellular Association.
With the explosion in mobile industry, the Mobile thefts and misplacement are becoming a very common occurrence. This not only affects the consumer financially but also exposes their personal data, videos and official presentations for misuse.
Speaking on this occasion Mr. Ryu Managing Director Samsung Telecommunication India said, “Close to Rs. 500 crores worth of Mobile phones are lost or stolen annually. To compound matters, it is next to impossible for general consumers to locate or retrieve their stolen handsets. Samsung identifies this as a significant issue in mobile phone usage and believes that mobile phone consumers rightfully deserve security and tracking of the handsets through associated features.”
Elaborating the work undertaken by Samsung on mobile security, Mr. Ryu said “Secured mobile phone is the right of every consumer. Through Samsung’s secured feature phones, we tried to address three larger issues of mobile security i.e., securing your mobile phones and preventing any untoward usage or incident through that phone, securing the safety of near and dear ones through emergency SOS and securing the confidential data’s that are stored in that phone.”
Addressing the gathering Mr. Pankaj Mohindroo, National President of Indian Cellular Association, said, “ICA has always supported consumer welfare and will continue doing so. We have recommended registry of stolen / lost mobile phone in closed cooperation with police stations , police headquarter & mobile careers. I’m happy to note that companies are coming up with innovative applications which will make consumers feel more secure and will also help companies to track their misplaced handsets.”
Mr. Sudhir Gupta, Advisor – Mobile Networks TRAI chaired the technical session titled “Identifying and Mitigating Threats to Mobile Handset Security” which was attended by Mr. Rajat Mukarji, Vice President – Corporate Affairs, Idea Cellular Limited; Mr. Pavan Duggal, Advocate – Supreme Court of India & Cyberlaw Consultant and Mr. Mohan Rao, Head Protocol, Samsung India Software Operations.
Over 100 delegates comprising of Reliance communications, Nortel, Airtel, BSNL, Delhi Police, Hutch, Idea, Ministry of Communications and IT, MTNL, Tata Teleservices, Telecommunication Engineering Centre, TRAI, ICA, Samsung Telecommunications India and leading media houses attended the event.
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Trai conducts digitalization round table
MUMBAI: Foloowing the rollout of conditional access system (Cas) in parts of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata, broadcast regulator Trai has conducted a round table meeting on digitalization of television transmission and voluntary implementation of Cas.
In order to take the process of digitalization forward and also to explore the possibility of voluntary implementation of CAS in other parts of the country, Trai conducted a round table meeting on 1 February in Delhi with various stake holders.
Experts as well as representatives of consumer organizations, multi system operators (MSOs), cable operators, DTH operators, broadcasters and equipment manufacturers participated in the round table. In the meeting there was a broad consensus about the need for digitalization and addressability. The participants raised certain issues in order to arrive at a feasible road map. The major issues that were raised by the stakeholders relates to fiscal rationalization, encouragement of domestic manufacturing, changes in the regulatory regime (especially the need for price control), ensuring affordability and choice and exploring alternative models for voluntary Cas.
A small sub group has been constituted in order to discuss issues relating to digitalization and voluntary introduction of Cas. The discussions with the stake holders would continue in future also.s
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Trai happy with Cas rollout, needs to look into customer choice
NEW DELHI: With 178,000 STBs seeded in the South Delhi Cas area, and an overall of just a little under 450,000 STBs seeded in the three metros as of date (Mumbai 210,000 and Kolkata 48,000-plus), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India is happy with the physical roll out of Cas, Trai Advisor Rakesh Kacker tells indiantelevision.com.
However, there still remains the issue of implementation of the consumer choices, which has not been done so far, he informed.
Explaining the surprisingly small number of STBs that south-Kolkatans have opted for, Kacker said: “I am told that the area chosen is the problem. That (Behala and other places) is not typically the area where people would opt for the boxes.”He explained that though people there could afford the boxes, since the initial deposit is as little as Rs 250, “I believe that people in these areas have a monthly billing of as low as Rs 70 or 80 at the most, so they feel that the FTAs is good enough for them.”
But why has the “pay-for-watching” system not been implemented so far?
“The main problem, of course, is human resources available with the cable operators to give the connections as per choice expressed by the customer. That being limited, it is taking time because of bunching of applications,” he explained.
In fact, it is a complex problem, he admitted.
“In some cases, the operators tell us that the customers have yet not filled up the form because they cannot decide. In other cases, there is the lack of manpower.”
Interestingly, one of the practices that MSOs resorted to during the transition period has further caused delay in the implementation of customer choice, or what is usually termed as “watch what you pay for”.
In the beginning, whoever paid for either renting or buying an STB had been given access by MSOs to all the available channels, and the latter had said that once the customers filed their choices – a la carte or bouquets – the bill for the first month would reflect that alone and not the entire package being shown initially.
“But customers may have started feeling that they are getting everything for the same amount of money, so why should they fill forms for specific choice? So they too are not submitting their forms,” Kacker explained.
Wasn’t there a cut off date for implementation. Some of the MSOs had told indiantelevision.com that the system of receiving all the channels would stop from January 20. Kacker, however, differed: “I am not aware of any such order by us at Trai.”
“Actually, seeding the boxes was the first priority, so now that has stabilised and now we have to implement the customer choice. I am more than happy with the number of boxes seeded, which goes a little beyond my original calculations. There was a shortage in the beginning of January because of the sudden spurt in demand, but the situation has stabilised,” Kacker added.
But what about the problem of frequent signal loss? And the fact that when there is signal box, there are no helpline numbers available on the TV screen, where it should be? Isn’t that an issue of ‘quality of service’?
Kacker dismissed the issue of signal loss and pixelisation of images, saying that the number of complaints are insignificant, and they could occur for a variety of reasons. And in any case, the helpline is always available with the customer. “Don’t tell me the customers do not know the telephone numbers of their cable operators!” he said.
Is there a decision to extend Cas to other areas in the three metros? It is too premature to say, he opined. Instead, he wants the system to stabilise.
There is no way of knowing the actual number of sets seeded by the DTH operators. But as far as controlling tariff for DTH is concerned, Kacker said Trai’s position has been expressed in an affidavit placed with TDSAT and he could not further comment on that.
Earlier last month, during a hearing of TDSAT, it was read out in the court by a lawyer for a DTH player that Trai had said it has been considering the issue of DTH tariff fixation and a consultation paper would be distributed. Trai counsels present at the hearing, but had not objected to the lawyer’s statement.
A news agency had reported that Tra has said it is too premature to consider tariff fixation for DTH, but Kacker dismissed the issue: “The agency can say what it wants to, how does it make a difference to me. We have told TDSAT what we had to.”
However, today Kacker still refused to comment, saying that the matter was in the court.
And would Trai – futuristically speaking – have any role to play in regulating Mobile TV?
“It is not clear. People speak of mobile TV as if it is one system, but this can happen through telecom through Internet, through terrestrial lines and so forth. Maybe there could be issues of quality of service or tariff fixing, but it all depends on who is providing the service and through which platform,” Kacker concluded.
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Hearings continue in Trai rulings validity case
NEW DELHI: The hearing on the constitutional aspects of the ongoing case on whether Trai can at all fix tariffs for pay channels continued today.
Set Discovery counsel Afpi Chinay argued that there is no law in the country that allows the operations of broadcasters to be regulated. Chinay said that neither the Telecom Regulatory Authority of Indian act nor the Cable TV act has any provision for regulating the content providers, and the orders fixing tariff were thus automatically against the laws.
This is a case of violation of freedom or speech and expression under Article 19 1 A of the Constitution, Chinay said. He challenged the proviso to section 21 K of the Trai act which originally said that the government could at a later date include any other service under the head of ‘telecom services’ but that would not include the broadcasters. He said that the amendment of the Act in 2000 gave the Trai the powers to regulate, but this did not apply to them as they were neither licensees nor service providers under the meaning of the Act.
Chinay also challenged the Rules as amended on July 31, 2006, which gave the government the power to regulate and fix tariff.
Chinay held that the Cable TV Act does not have this provision, and it says that though the government could control prices of the ‘basic tier’ only, that is, the free-to-air channels, it could not do the same for the pay channels.
Chinay held that the rules cannot take over the Act under which they exist, hence the fixing of tariff under such rules were not acceptable.
The hearing is to continue tomorrow. The original case had been filed by Star in 2005 and later, Sony joined issue, filing a separate appeal in 2006. The HC is hearing the range of cases under this new petition (No. 16913 of 2006), which is now being treated as the main petition.
The contention of the broadcasters is that Trai or Cable TV act does not have regulatory powers whatever, so far as the pay channels are concerned, hence any order issued on this by Trai stands automatically struck down. Earlier, Soli Sorabjee had appeared for Sony and had placed his preliminary argument.
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Huge market in rural areas through Mobile Value Added Services
MUMBAI: Mobile Value Added Services (MVAS) industry is fast growing in India. “VAS is taking a wider view to content providers and expanding the demographic segments”, said Mr. Pankaj Thaker – CEO, Cellcast at The India Digital Summit 2007 hosted by Internet & Mobile Association of India in New Delhi. Advocating the use of VAS in India, he added that 80% of the participation in China is via VAS.
Chief Guest Shri Dayanidhi Maran, Hon’ble Union Minister of Communications and Information Technology, said that today telecom companies in India are receiving global attention. He added “It is only a matter of time that Digital offerings will be across products and services. The content and services will become the unique selling point. His vision for digital India comprises of the country being connected with a network of communication technologies spanning optic fiber and wireless, interacting in all the 22 languages and cross lingual information access facilities.”
Mobile VAS is slowly becoming a critical source of information and interactivity. MVAS market is pegged at 2200- 3000 crores. Commenting on VAS, Mr. Rajiv Hiranandani said that India is lagging behind China as the latter has been using VAS for the past 4 years while India is still an infant. The role of VAS is very critical to the growth of the industry in India.
Eminent speakers / leading industry experts like Neville Taraporewalla, MD & CEO – Connecturf, Arvind Chawla, Advisor TDSAT, RK Arnold, Secretary – TRAI, Pankaj Thaker, CEO- Cellcast,
Rajiv Hiranandani, Mariam Mathew – CEO, Malayalam Manorama among others presented an insight on convergence, communication, content and commerce.
Speaking at the summit, the distinguished panelists highlighted that rural Indian market plays a pivotal role in the growth of internet and mobile sector. Rajiv Hiranandani added that 50% of the internet subscribers are from rural India. Mobile phones have permeated to smaller towns, cities and villages expanding the opportunity for adoption and use of value added services. Expansion of mobile subscriber’s base beyond cities presents a great opportunity to the MVAS industry to grow. However, the challenge is the role of entertainment in adoption, pricing, packaging and local content.
The India Digital Summit 2007, IAMAI’s flagship annual event, had set a tough agenda for itself this year and though there were some tricky questions, each panelist provided a “view” of the future. The Summit this year focused on two distinct areas: internet and related issues of current and future policies, communications tools and commerce; and mobile devices and connected issues of mobile value added services over two days.
