The government is keen to introduce direct-to-mobile (D2M) technology in India by next year. Pilot projects for the technology are set to soon begin in 19 cities. While a formal timeline has not been set and the government will not mandate handset makers to adopt D2M, the technology has received support from all ministries.
Speaking at the 5G Broadcast Summit organised by IIT Kanpur, secretaries from the Department of Science and Technology, Department of Telecommunications, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting and Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), said that the technology was key to expanding digital access to millions of Indians and that the country could be a pioneer in the field. D2M will allow multimedia content to be transmitted to smartphones without requiring an active internet connection.
According to Abhay Karandikar, secretary, Department of Science and Technology, D2M is already mature and available. Some lab trials and field trials have been done. The government now has to do a citywide pilot trial so that its potential can be demonstrated, and then enable its rollout and commercial deployment. Karandikar noted that the government may launch the technology with an indigenously developed system by the next year.
Meanwhile, S Krishnan, secretary, MeitY, said whether the technology would be made mandatory or not was a distant matter. He noted that it is a domestic development. How the technology is utilised and what the utilisation is going to be is the next step. Krishnan added that the adoption of D2M was largely dependent on the choice of consumers. However, he hinted at a possibility of mandating that manufacturers embed D2M technology in smartphones. He stated that there are certain aspects that the government has already mandated for phones. One example is the integration of Navigation with Indian Constellation (NavIC) chips. Similarly, there could be possibilities of using D2M technology for larger benefits, and not just purely on a commercial basis.
