ITV

Tag: Trai

  • Broadband speed: TRAI extends ideas date to 20 July

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has extended the date for inputs of stakeholders on ensuring transparency and customer awareness regarding data speeds under wireless broadband plans to 20 July with counter-comments by 5 August 2017.

    TRAI had issued a consultation paper on Data Speed under Wireless Broadband Plans for which the last date was 29 June for responses.

    However, TRAI said it was extending the date as this issue involved several technical, network and business issues.

    The paper issued on 1 June 2017 had said wireless access networks are the main source of delivering broadband in the country. Global mobile subscriptions are growing around 5 percent year-on-year. The Ericsson’s mobility report said India grew the most in terms of net additions during the third quarter of 2016 by adding 15 million connections. These figures have increased substantially in the last few quarters. Out of the total 236.09 million broadband subscribers in the country as of 31 December, 2016 approximately 92.32% i.e. 217.95 million subscribers are through wireless access.

    According to a GSMA report titled ‘The Mobile Economy, India, 2016’, at the end of June 2016, 616 million unique users subscribed to mobile services in India, making it the second largest mobile market in the world. Almost half the country’s population now subscribes to a mobile service.

    The report suggests that improving affordability; falling device prices and better network coverage aided by operator investment will help deliver over 330 million new unique subscribers by 2020, taking the penetration rate to 68 per cent. It further adds that as more users migrate to high-speed broadband, mobile data traffic is expected to grow 12-fold between 2015 and 2020, at a CAGR of 63 per cent.

    Data usage by GSM users has already shown an unprecedented growth in the recent months from an average usage of 236MB per month in September, 2016 to 884 MB per month in December, 2016. Along with this, the composition of revenues earned by operators is also changing. Mobile operators in India have so far reported limited revenue contribution from data services, generating 17 per cent of service revenues at the end of 2015. This is forecast to increase to 23 per cent by 2020.

    The paper listed nine questions for the stakeholders:

    Q1: Is the information on wireless broadband speeds currently being made available to consumers is transparent enough for making informed choices?

    Q2: If it is difficult to commit a minimum download speed, then could average speed be specified by the service providers? What should be the parameters for calculating average speed?

    Q3: What changes can be brought about to the existing framework on wireless broadband tariff plans to encourage better transparency and comparison between plans offered by different service providers?

    Q4: Is there a need to include/delete any of the QoS parameters and/or revise any of the benchmarks currently stipulated in the Regulations?

    Q5: Should disclosure of average network performance over a period of time or at peak times including through broadband facts/labels be made mandatory?

    Q6: Should standard application/ websites be identified for mandating comparable disclosures about network speeds?

    Q7: What are the products/technologies that can be used to measure actual end-user experience on mobile broadband networks? At what level should the measurements take place (e.g., on the device, network node)?

    Q8: Are there any legal, security, privacy or data sensitivity issues with collecting device level data?

    a) If so, how can these issues be addressed?

    b) Do these issues create a challenge for the adoption of any measurement tools?

    Q9: What measures can be taken to increase awareness among consumers about wireless broadband speeds, availability of various technological tools to monitor them and any potential concerns that may arise in the process?

  • 37 new MSOs in 45 days takes total to 1421, seven among 59 cases sub-judice

    NEW DELHI: In an attempt to give a spurt to digitisation, as many as 37 multi-system operators were registered during May and the first fortnight of June to take the total number to 1421.

    Following the decision of the government to deem all provisional multi-system operators as having regular licence and giving a provisional licence to the Tamil Nadu Arasu TV Corporation, there is a composite list instead of separate lists for provisional or permanent (ten year) licencees.

    In addition, the ministry of information and broadcasting (MIB) has released a list of 59 MSOs, of which seven are pending in courts and the others have been treated as closed. Faced with just less than a month before the switch-off of analogue signals, the government had, on 6 March 2017, decided to treat all MSOs as permanent but with the condition that the period of 10 years commences from the date they got registered as provisional MSOs.

    However, if the continuation of registration of any MSO is at any time found to be or considered detrimental to the security of the state, then the registration so granted is liable to be cancelled/suspended, the order placed on the ministry’s website specified. All other terms and conditions stated in the provisional registration letter(s) will continue to apply.

    Earlier, on 27 January 2017, it was decided that all registered MSOs are free to operate in any part of the country, irrespective of registration for specified DAS notified areas. However, they have to submit the details of Headend, SMS, subscribers list and a self-certificate that they are carrying all the mandatory TV Channels, within six months from date of issuance of MSO registration, to the ministry, failing which the MSO registration is liable to cancelled/suspended.

    Hence, all deemed regular registered MSOs also are required to submit the details to the ministry within six months.

    The Tamil Nadu-Government-run TACTV was granted provisional licence on 18 April 2017 to operate as a MSO in the state on the condition that it switches off analogue signals in the state within three months which has now been extended to 17 August 2017.

    The MIB had then told indiantelevision.com that it had been made clear that the provisional licence was subject to the Centre taking a final decision on the recommendation of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India that no government-owned body should be permitted in the field of running or distributing television channels. TRAI had, in 2008, 2012 and 2014, held that state governments and political parties should not be permitted to own TV channels or distribution channels.

    In Tamil Nadu where there is a court stay in operation since Phase I, TACTV had warned MSOs and LCOs against switching off analogue signals anywhere in the state after 31 March 2017.

    Arasu had been granted provisional licence in 2006 at the time of the Conditional Access System on certain conditions based on the TRAI report but this had not been renewed when Digital Addressable System came into force.

    Also read

    Including Arasu, total number of MSOs goes up to 1376, to ensure DAS implementation

  • Energy-efficient ideas: TRAI meet in Delhi on 5 July

    NEW DELHI: An open house discussion is being held in Delhi early next month following responses received by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to its Consultation Paper on Approach towards Sustainable Telecommunications. The OHD will be held on 5 July 2017 on the paper which had been issued on 17 January 2017.

    Later, TRAI had given extra time to stakeholders wanting to give suggestions to the efforts towards the effect of telecom on climate change and green house gas emissions, extending the date from 27 February to 14 March 2017 with counter-comments by 26 March. Following a request received from the Department of Telecom, TRAI had issued the Consultation Paper raising 14 questions.

    TRAI had issued a paper on similar issues in 2012 and the DoT had in fact given directions on that basis, but new issues have cropped up with emerging technologies.

    India has the second largest and fastest growing mobile telephone market in the world. Power and energy consumption for telecom network operations is by far the most important significant contributor of carbon emissions in the telecom industry.

    Hence, it is important for the telecom operators to shift to energy efficient technologies and alternate sources of energy. Moreover, Going Green has also become a business necessity for telecom operators with energy costs becoming as large as 25 per cent of total network operations costs. A typical communications company spends nearly one per cent of its revenues on energy which for large operators may amount to several million rupees.

    Also Read: Shift to energy-efficient tech; TRAI seeks ideas by 27 Feb

  • ACT still leads in wired sub addition, Idea & BSNL lose wireless subs

    BENGALURU: Atria Convergence Technologies Pvt. Ltd (ACT) continued to lead in wired broadband internet subscribers additions in calendar year 2017 (CY-17) until 30April 2017 (Apr-17) as per data released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). ACT added 70,000 subscribers, of which 20,000 were added inApril 2017 followed by Indian telecom major Bharti Airtel Limited (Airtel) and You Broadband which added 10,000 subscribers each during the same period.

    The MukeshDhirubhaiAmbani led Reliance Industries Limited juggernaut Reliance JioInfocom Limited (Jio) continued as the company with the largest wireless broadband internet subscriber base in the country – all of it being wireless so far. Having overtaken the incumbent biggest wireless broad band internet player until Oct-16, Airtel, Jio had a subscriber base of 112.55 million (1125.5 lakh) in Apr-17. Its peers in the wireless internet space – Idea and BSNLbled subscribers. Idea Cellular lost 2.95 million (29.5 lakh) subscribers in the month of April 2017, while BSNL lost 1.22 million (12.2 lakh) subscribers during the same period.

    1.1 lakh (0.11 million) wired broadband internet subscribers were added in CY-17 as per TRAI data. Among the wireline ISP’s,BSNL is the biggest player by far with 99.7 lakh subscribers. BSNL lost 10,000 wired broadband subscribers in CY-17.The second largest wireline ISP in India is Airtel, which closed Apr-17 with 20.9 lakh wireline subscribers, after adding just 10,000 subscribers to its wireline internet subscriber base during Apr-17 and 50,000 in CY-17. The third largest wireline broadband internet services provider was regional private player ACT Broadband with a subscriber base of 11.9 lakh at the end of Apr-18. The government run Mahanagar Sanchar Nigam Limited (MTNL) lost 40,000 subscribers in CY-17 and had a subscriber base of 10 lakh at the end of Apr-17. The fifth player in the list of top five wireline broadband internet service providers in the country is another regional player – You Broadband or You BB. The minnow’s subscriber base grew by 10,000 to 0.63 million (6.3 lakh) in Apr-17 vis-à-vis Mar-17. Please refer to the figure below:

    public://F1_11.jpg

    The wireless broadband internet subscriber basein India in CY-17 grew 22.12 percent (48.07 million) from 217.36million to 265.43million in Apr-17.  It was 251.71 million in Mar-17. During the same period, the wireless broadband subscriber base of the top five service providers grew by 52.09 million, indicating in general that though the overall wireless subscriber base grew,  a number of subscribers switched loyalties and moved to 4 of the 5 top players – (Idea  Cellular has lost subscribers, the other 4 players have gained in CY-2017).

    The top five service wireless internet service providers subscriber base grew 3.44 percent (52.9 million) between Mar-17 and Apr-17. The top five wireless service providers constituted 88.04 percent market share (87.48 percent in Mar-17) of the total broadband subscribers at the end of Apr-17. These service providers were Jio(112.55 million), Airtel (52.25 million), Vodafone (39.76 million), Idea Cellular (24.09 million) and BSNL (21.58 million).

    Please refer to the figure below for subscriber base of top 5 wireless broadband internet service providers:

    public://F2_4.jpg

    Among the top 5 wireless broadband internet services providers in the country, Jio has shown the highest growth. Please refer to the figure below for growth of top 5 wireless broadband internet service providers in the country:

    public://F3.jpg

    Notes: (1) The Indian numbering system or the Vedic numbering system has been used at some places in this paper/charts to denote numerical 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.

    (2) TRAI reports indicate data in millions of numbers up to 2 decimal places. Hence it is assumed in this report that a figure of 0.51 million (5.1 lakh) subscribers for You BB for Dec-2015 would be granular to the nearest 10,000. While percentages have been mentioned up to two decimal places, the accuracy may vary, depending upon the exact number.
     (3) MSOs’ have a number of subsidiaries and alliances, hence broadband numbers are split as applicable. The consolidated subscription numbers of these entities could be larger. Hathway is a case in point.

     

  • Star India case questioning TRAI jurisdiction over content postponed

    MUMBAI: Unmindful of the Supreme Court directive to dispose of the case in four weeks, the hearing of the dispute between Star India and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) in the Madras High Court has been postponed to 27 June.

    It has been learnt that court will not be sitting around this time and the judges would not be able to give time to the case before the new date.

    Although, the matter was scheduled to be heard on 12 June, arguments and judgement in the dispute concerning the constitutionality of TRAI’s orders will now witness further delay.

    The Supreme Court had earlier granted a stay on TRAI’s new tariff orders. The apex court had asked the Madras High Court to complete the hearing within four weeks. The case was scheduled to be heard on a day-to-day basis from 12 June.

    The broadcasters had challenged the order of TRAI on the grounds that it had no jurisdiction over content, and that actually came under Copyright Act, which is not administered by TRAI.

  • TRAI aids consumers assess data quality, recommends year-long packs

    MUMBAI: TRAI has launched five apps including — MyCall, MySpeed and Do Not Disturb (DND 2.0) — to help subscribers assess call and data quality, and has sent an advisory to telcos to offer one-year data packs — only. Besides, TRAI has also upgraded its ‘Do Not Disturb’ app with additional new features like an intelligent spam detection engine and updates about action taken on complaints within the app.

    “The application MyCall will help mobile phone users rate their experience about voice call quality in real-time and help TRAI gather customer experience data along with network data,” TRAI said in a statement.

    The regulator and government have refused to lower their guard on the subject of call drops, and have kept a close watch on call quality through initiatives such as automated call system and drive tests.

    TRAI has also launched an update to its MySpeed app, which allows customers to measure 3G/4G data speeds and send the results to the regulator.

    The regulator said it has sent an advisory to all telecom operators asking them to launch at least one pack (special tariff voucher or STV) of data services with a validity of 365 days. The advisory comes after operators’ requested TRAI last year for longer validity for STVs with only data benefits, for certain category of consumers who prefer lower denomination data packs with longer validity.

  • LCOs to get unique TRAI number to ensure fair deals, says advisor Gupta

    NEW DELHI: Despite claims of major achievements in all parts of the country in digital addressable system, a meet held recently in Chandigarh presented a dismal picture with many local cable operators complaining that the switching off of analogue had badly affected their business.

    In the seminar organised by the Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal, even Tribunal chairman Justice Shiva Kirti Singh said the operators should approach the government for solutions.

    Information and broadcasting ministry joint secretary (broadcasting) Manoj Kumar Pingua talked about the achievements of digitisation and referred to the transparency leading to greater tax collections by the centre as well as state governments.

    The seminar, on ‘Digitisation: Achievements Issues and the Way Forward’, was attended by the judges of different courts, lawyers, multi-system operators broadcasters and LCOs.

    Telecom Regulatory Authority of India principal advisor S K Gupta said there was a plan to issue a unique number to each LCO and keep a track of his Interconnection Agreements to ensure he gets a fair deal.

    One LCO from the Chamba in Himachal Pradesh said that he had lost all his business because broadcasters had switched off analogue signals and multisystem operators were not prepared to supply him digital signals.

    Another LCO from Punjab said his investments of Rs seven million in a HITS headend and STBs have gone waste as Jain HITS has closed its business. The government has made no policy to compensate cable operators in such conditions. He said that HITS was not working in the present circumstances as broadcasters create hurdles in providing content.

    Earlier, Zee HITS had also closed down. Now only NeXT Digital of Hindujas is operating but he said LCOs were losing faith in the technology.

    Another LCO said MSOs were not giving signed copy of the Interconnection Agreement to LCOs and exploited them every now and then by raising subscriptions. He said there is no security in the business, and since all regulations are challenged in the courts, even the regulator is unable to help.

    While GST had been cleared and Cable and DTH services will attract 18% tax and STBs and other digital equipment will be taxed at 28%, the speakers said they were worried about the negative impact of GST on the business as neither ‘Make in India’ will succeed nor the dream of a ‘Digital India’ will be fulfilled.

  • DTH subscriber growth slows down even further

    BENGALURU: Despite the information and broadcasting (I&B) ministry extending the deadline for phase IV of cable television digitisation by three months to 31 March 2017, owing to the “unsatisfactory progress of installation of set top boxes (STBs) in phase IV areas”, reports submitted by the carriage industry indicate that subscriber additions in the extended period have been low.

    Financial results of companies or entities from the carriage industry whose financial and limited operational data is available in the public domain – Airtel Digital TV (Airtel DTH), Dish TV, and Videocon DTH show poor subscriber adds in the quarter ended 31 March 2017 (fourth quarter, Q4-17). As a matter of fact, subscriber adds in Q4-17 was the lowest that the three Indian major operators reported in a quarter for the financial year ended 31 March 2017 (FY-17). The combined subscribers for all the three players grew 8.33 percent to 41.23 million in FY-17 from 38.06 million in FY-16. It maybe noted that subscriber numbers are generally rounded off by the players in their reports, in some case to an extent of 10,000. In FY-16, the three players had added about 65 percent more subscribers in absolute numbers at 4.93 million as compared to the 3.81 million added in FY-17.

    Please refer to the figure below:

    public://dth-1.jpg

    The DTH industry witnessed a slowdown in subscriber growth even in the previous year.Combined subscriber additions for the annual period ended 31 March 2016 (FY-16) vis-à-vis the previous year (FY-15) grew by 14.8percent of the three pay-direct to home operators in India.  This subscriber growth rate was however a little less than half that these entities had in FY-15 at 24.7 percent as compared to FY-14.

    Let us see where the three pay DTH players considered in this paper stand in the Indian DTH eco-system

    Airtel DTH, Dish TV and Videocon d2h have about two thirds (65 percent) of market share of the DTH universe by private players in India. Of the other three players, according to a TRAI report Tata Sky has a market share of 23 percent, while Sun Direct and Reliance have a market share or 10 percent and 2 percent respectively. It may be noted that at present probably the largest DTH player in India could be the government’s FreeDish, but since it is a free service, no subscriber data is available even with Prasar Bharati. Please refer to the chart below:

    public://dth2_0.jpg

  • Wireless b’band speed: TRAI invites transparency & customer awareness ideas

    NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India wants stakeholders to give their views on ensuring transparency and customer awareness regarding data speeds under wireless broadband plans and has suggested various tools that may be deployed for measuring data speeds

    In a Consultation Paper on ‘Data Speed under Wireless Broadband Plans’, the Authority has asked stakeholders to respond to nine questions raised by it by 20 June with counter-comments if any by 13 July.

    At the outset, it says the National Telecom Policy of 2012 (NTP-2012) has the vision of Broadband on Demand and envisages leveraging telecom infrastructure to enable all citizens and businesses, both in rural and urban areas, to participate in the Internet and web economy thereby ensuring equitable and inclusive development across the nation. It provides the enabling framework for enhancing India’s competitiveness in all spheres of the economy

    Wireless access networks are the main source of delivering broadband in the country. Global mobile subscriptions are growing around 5 percent year-on-year. According to the Ericsson’s mobility report, India grew the most in terms of net additions during the third quarter of 2016 by adding 15 million connections. These figures have increased substantially in the last few quarters. Out of the total 236.09 million broadband subscribers in the country as of 31st December 2016 approximately 92.32% – 217.95 million subscribers – are through wireless access.

    According to a GSMA report titled ‘The Mobile Economy, India 2016’, at the end of June 2016, 616 million unique users subscribed to mobile services in India, making it the second largest mobile market in the world. Almost half the country’s population now subscribes to a mobile service. The report suggests that improving affordability; falling device prices and better network coverage aided by operator investment will help deliver over 330 million new unique subscribers by 2020, taking the penetration rate to 68%. It further adds that as more users migrate to high-speed broadband, mobile data traffic is expected to grow 12-fold between 2015 and 2020, at a CAGR of 63%.

    Data usage by GSM users has already shown an unprecedented growth in the recent months from an average usage of 236MB per month in September, 2016 to 884 MB per month in December 2016.

    Along with this, the composition of revenues earned by operators is also changing. Mobile operators in India have so far reported limited revenue contribution from data services, generating 17% of service revenues at the end of 2015. This is forecast to increase to 23% by 2020.

    The Broadband Policy of 2004 defined broadband as “An ‘always-on’ data connection that is able to support interactive services including Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point of Presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide broadband service where multiple such individual broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is able to access these interactive services including the Internet through this POP. The interactive services will exclude any services for which a separate license is specifically required, for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the extent that it is presently permitted under ISP license with Internet Telephony”.

    The questions raised in the paper, which discusses the various initiatives that have been taken by the Authority in relation to broadband speeds in India and their current status and provides a summary of the international experience on similar issues, are:

    Q1: Is the information on wireless broadband speeds currently being made available to consumers is transparent enough for making informed choices? Q2: If it is difficult to commit a minimum download speed, then could average speed be specified by the service providers? What should be the parameters for calculating average speed?

    Q3: What changes can be brought about to the existing framework on wireless broadband tariff plans to encourage better transparency and comparison between plans offered by different service providers? Q4: Is there a need to include/delete any of the QoS parameters and/or revise any of the benchmarks currently stipulated in the Regulations?

    Q5: Should disclosure of average network performance over a period of time or at peak times including through broadband facts/labels be made mandatory? Q6: Should standard application/ websites be identified for mandating comparable disclosures about network speeds?

    Q7: What are the products/technologies that can be used to measure actual end-user experience on mobile broadband networks? At what level should the measurements take place (e.g., on the 26 device, network node)? Q8: Are there any legal, security, privacy or data sensitivity issues with collecting device level data?

    a) If so, how can these issues be addressed? b) Do these issues create a challenge for the adoption of any measurement tools?

    Q9: What measures can be taken to increase awareness among consumers about wireless broadband speeds, availability of various technological tools to monitor them and any potential concerns that may arise in the process?

  • LCN issue: TRAI mandate a victory for us, says NBA

    MUMBAI: Ashish Bagga, President, News Broadcasters Association (NBA) stated that in a major victory for the News Broadcasters Association (NBA), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a mandate against Multi System Operators (MSOs) regarding usage of multiple LCNs. This mandate was released within two weeks by TRAI on representations made by NBA.

    NBA had filed a complaint with TRAI against unethical distribution practices adopted by a new entrant in the English news genre: Republic TV, to boost its Rating Points (TVTs). NBA had also appealed to BARC not to release data for the English general news category for Week 19, 2017 as the rating was corrupted due to unfair distribution tactics. Consequently, major English news Channels who are also members of the NBA had opted out of the measuring system to protect themselves from being measured in a non-level playing field and had clarified that they would return only after the unethical practices had been stopped.

    After a series of discussions and complaints to BARC and TRAI, the English news broadcasters have resumed their Watermark last Friday night subjecting themselves to ongoing measurements as they were sufficiently satisfied that due to TRAI’s intervention the malpractices were discontinued. This was confirmed by most MSOs.

    Bagga stated that the NBA’s stance today stands vindicated. Not only had TRAI released this important mandate, it had also aggressively followed up with MSOs about putting a stop to malpractices. The NBA is grateful to the TRAI for taking swift measures to stop malpractices. TRAI in its recent mandate to the Multiple System Operators (MSOs), also emphasized on ensuring that all channels falling in a particular genre appear in its (MSO’s) network’s electronic programming guide (EPG) under that genre, to make services more consumer friendly.

    As a result of TRAI’s mandate and action, the rating of Republic TV have gone down by over 50% after the malpractice was discontinued. This drop in rating brings Republic TV closer to realistic levels of weekly reach of general English news channels which is an average of 0.6 to 0.8 million.

    Bagga stated that this would not have been possible without the timely intervention of TRAI on NBA’s complaints.