The Hindu Business Line : TRAI for allowing telecom cos, cable operators to offer Net TV

Clear picture
In IPTV, interactive digital television service is delivered over an Internet connection.
As IPTV delivers TV channels in digital form, the quality of TV viewing is expected to be better as compared to analog transmission.

Our Bureau

New Delhi, Sept. 6

Paving the way for large scale deployment of Internet Protocol Television services in the country, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday said that both telecom operators and cable TV service providers will be allowed to offer IPTV under their existing licences.

IPTV is a system where an interactive digital television service is delivered over an Internet connection instead of the traditional way of transmitting through a cable network. Users will also get new services such as video on demand where they can watch their favourite movies for a fee.

They can pause, fast forward and rewind live and recorded content stored on a remotely located server by the service provider. Since IPTV delivers TV channels in digital form, the quality of TV viewing is expected to be much better as compared to analog transmission. However, regulatory uncertainty was holding back operators from deploying the service. So far only MTNL has launched the IPTV service in Delhi and Mumbai.

TRAI’s view

The uncertainty had arisen in 2006, when TRAI suggested keeping IPTV completely out of the purview of the Cable TV Act 1995, which meant that only telecom operators would have been allowed to offer the service. The recommendations were later withdrawn after cable TV operators said that IPTV should be kept within the Cable TV Act as it was a broadcasting service.

On Thursday, TRAI sought to remove the uncertainty by saying that IPTV service was new and, therefore, can be offered by both the telecom operators, and cable TV providers with unified access licence. TRAI, however, pointed out that IPTV services cannot be governed by the Cable TV laws alone, as it will violate some of the provisions of the Act.

For instance, use of different protocols by different companies and lack of standardisation for IPTV services violates the requirement about use of equipment conforming to Indian standards. Therefore, taking a middle path, TRAI said that if IPTV is offered using telecom infrastructure, then it will be governed by the Indian Telegraph Act 1885 and if it is provided by the Cable TV operators then the service will be under the Cable TV Network Act 1995.

FDI cap

The content will, however, be regulated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in both cases and onus of complying with the norms has been put on broadcasting firms, even when IPTV is offered by telecom service providers.

TRAI also said that since IPTV and cable TV were different types of service, differential FDI caps for the telecom operator and cable TV service providers was a non-issue. Cable operators had said that there was no level playing field, as telecom operators are allowed FDI up to 74 per cent while the Cable TV Act restricts FDI up to 49 per cent only.

TRAI has also suggested an amendment in the Cable TV Act to permit broadcaster to give TV signals to telecom operators. As per the current policy guidelines for down-linking of television channels, the broadcasters can provide satellite television channel signal reception decoders only to cable operators or to a DTH operator.

A number of telecom companies, including Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communication and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd, have already made plans to offer IPTV in a big way.

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