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The Department of Telecom may lower the barrier for Internet services under the new unified licence regime, including allowing them to offer television services.
Under the current policy, only those companies with a minimum net worth of Rs 100 crore are allowed to offer Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) services. But a committee appointed by the DoT to finalise the unified licence policy has proposed to do away with this requirement.
Internet Protocol TV
Internet Protocol Television is a system through which television services are delivered using the Internet protocol suite over a packet-switched network just like other data services, instead of being delivered through traditional terrestrial, satellite signal, and cable television formats. Though this was permitted in India a few years ago not many players have entered this space due to the high entry barrier.
“Minimum networth of Rs 100 crore has been removed for providing IPTV services noting that cable TV operators can offer TV services on Internet without any net worth requirement. To enable increased reach of converged services it is important that this barrier is removed,” the committee said in its report.
When contacted, Rajesh Chharia, President, Internet Service Providers of India, said the move to remove the net worth requirement for IPTV was a step in the right direction, but more needs to be done if the Government was serious on reviving the ISP segment.
“We have told the Government to charge only a nominal fee for migrating existing ISPs into the unified licence regime. The current proposal to charge Rs 15 crore is too high,” Chharia said adding that the proposed policy did not change the basic licensing structure for Internet players.
Net telephony
The ISPAI also wants the Government to allow Internet companies to offer net telephony services without charging an additional entry fee.
The final unified licence regime is expected to be announced soon.
The regime will de-link spectrum from the licence apart from abolishing roaming charges.
> thomas.thomas@thehindu.co.in
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