The Hindu Business Line : TRAI seeks views on draft satellite radio policy norms

New Delhi, May 19 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought views on the changes it has proposed in the draft satellite radio policy guidelines, including doubling the current entry fee to Rs 5 crore.

The TRAI has made certain changes to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting’s proposed draft policy guidelines and is seeking comments from stakeholders. Currently, World Space is the only player in India to offer the subscription-based service, which uses a satellite system providing encrypted digital radio signals directly to the subscriber’s receiver sets.

Two types of licences are being envisaged under the new policy — one for the service provider (for carriage and broadcasting of channels) and the other for the radio channels (content providers). Some of the other issues covered in the draft policy guidelines are eligibility, criteria, period of licence, entry fee and annual licence fee, technical standards, monitoring, procedure for application, disputes and jurisdiction.

The TRAI has decided that the applicant need not be the “exclusive” holder of marketing and distribution rights for the service. The service provider, already operational (World Space), will be eligible for provisional licence valid for four years once the guidelines have been issued, which will be converted into a regular licence on compliance with the new terms and conditions. The earlier draft allowed the operator two years.

The minimum net worth required for the company requesting for a licence for a teleport for single channel capacity is Rs 1 crore. For teleport with capacity for 2-6 channels, it is Rs 1.5 crore going up to Rs 3 crore for capacity for 11 or more channels. If the service provider owns or proposes to own the satellite as well, additional net worth of Rs 5 crore per satellite will be required. This has been halved from the Rs 10 crore proposed earlier. In addition to the entry fee of Rs 5 crore, companies interested in satellite radio services will also have to pay an annual licence fee equal to 4 per cent of their gross revenue.

The TRAI had, in the past, sent its recommendations on “Issues relating to Satellite Radio Service” to the Government in 2005 which were taken into consideration in the Ministry’s draft satellite radio policy guidelines. In March, the Ministry had requested the Authority’s comments as well as comments on the representation of the sole satellite radio service provider, World Space. The authority is expecting comments on its proposed changes before May 26.

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