The Hindu Business Line : TRAI recommendation: Bharti, RCom get relief

The telecom regulator’s draft recommendation on provision of IPTV services appears encouraging for telecom players who are charting forays into this business.

The TRAI has indicated that telecom operators having Unified Access (UASL) and CMTS (cellular mobile telephone services) licences do not need additional licences or clearances to start IPTV services.

For players such as Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications, and BSNL, who are looking to launch this service over the next few months, this is a definite relief as there will be no additional cash outflow to secure licences. MTNL is already providing this service in Mumbai and Delhi.

Investments

RCom has made an estimated $500 million investment in this regard and has forged tie-ups with Microsoft for rollout of services.

Bharti is also betting big in this endeavour.

Considering that the rollout, in terms of laying the carriage network as well as buying content from broadcasters will involve significant investments, an additional burden may have been undesirable for these players.

Bharti and RCom have strong backbone network and will look to leverage on it. BSNL with the highest ‘last mile’ connectivity also appears to be well placed to tap the market.

Broadband penetration

The TRAI has also indicated that existing cable operators could provide IPTV services with no additional licence.

But these players may have to enhance their network and enter into tie-ups for content to be able to deliver from a different platform.

It remains to be seen how CAS, DTH and IPTV compete to capture viewership.

The success of IPTV will partly be a function of broadband penetration, which at the moment is extremely low in the country.

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