Avid TV viewers can finally pursue their favourite pastime on the move ?? anywhere, anytime. After the camera, music player, video recorder and internet browser, the mobile handset is now all set to become a portable TV.Rapidly gaining popularity in many countries worldwide, including the UK, Hong Kong and Singapore, mobile TV services are set to develop and expand significantly in India.
Mobile TV is a potentially lucrative service, enabling operators to increase their revenue streams and vendors the chance to tout new, innovative TVenabled handsets. According to Accenture, the global mobile TV market will be worth an estimated $30 billion by 2009.However, this market is still in various stages of evolution in different countries.
Mobile telecommunication networks/ broadcasting technologies, or a combination of these two platforms can provide mobile TV. In India, several operators, including BPL Mobile, Vodafone Essar and Reliance Communications, have been utilising their existing telecom networks to offer mobile TV services in the form of video clip downloads.
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) has recently tied up with Apalya Technologies, a Hyderabad-based TV channel content provider for mobile platforms, in order to launch its “TV in mobile handset service” in select regions of north and east India. This service, which, initially, will only be available on Nokia handsets, will permit users to watch around 12 channels, including NDTV, CNBC, Aaj Tak, Times Now, Zoom, Bindass, ETV and TV9.
According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), as mobile telecommunication networks in India do not offer 3G services, their data transmission speeds are severely limited. The current practice of downloading video clips on mobile networks, therefore, cannot qualify as true mobile TV services.
By TRAI’s definition, true mobile TV services are offered only by Doordarshan.In May 2007, Doordarshan initiated a trial run of its mobile TV service in Delhi, based on digital video broadcasting handheld (DVBH)-compliant mobile handset technology. The service offers eight channels within a 10-12 km radius of Akashvani Bhavan, Parliament Street, between 5.30 a.m. and midnight.
TRAI’s consultation process
In order to encourage mobile TV service operators, the information and broadcasting ministry has requested TRAI to submit recommendations on various issues relating to mobile TV services. This is essential in order to avoid confusion and remove any potential regulatory hurdles.As a result, TRAI has initiated discussion on several topics, including:
TRAI has received varied responses from a diverse set of players. While the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) and the Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) consider mobile TV a telecom service, cable providers, such as Dish TV, contend that it is a broadcast service and therefore must be regulated in a similar manner.
COAI and AUSPI also advocate that no additional licence or eligibility criteria should be required for the provision of mobile TV services. According to AUSPI, there is no necessity to create a new class of mobile TV operators since unified access service licensees are permitted to provide mobile TV under their existing licence.
Players such as Dish TV, however, strongly assert that experience in the TV and content business is a must for eligibility to provide mobile TV services. Dish TV explicitly stipulates that a mobile TV service provider must have a minimum of three years’ experience in running channels of all genres, including news, business, sports and children channels, as well as operating an encrypted pay TV service in India with a subscriber management system, customer care centre and countrywide distribution system.
There are also differences on the permissible FDI limit. COAI and AUSPI have both informed TRAI that the foreign direct investment (FDI) cap for mobile TV services should be 74 per cent ?? at par with the telecom sector. However, broadcasting companies, including Dish TV and Tata Sky, have advocated that the FDI limit should be the same as the direct-tohome (DTH) platform, which involves a 49 per cent cap on foreign investment and a 20 per cent ceiling on FDI.
There is, however, a general consensus on various other topics discussed. In the interests of the growth and development of mobile TV services, many stakeholders agree that the technology used for mobile TV services should be left to the service provider’s discretion.
Similarly, telecom and cable players agree that spectrum allocation for mobile TV services should be prioritised over digital terrestrial transmission. While mobile services have grown exponentially, digital terrestrial TV (DTTV) has not witnessed growth rates similar to broadcast technologies such as DTH and cable TV.
What lies ahead
There is still a long way to go before mobile TV service gains prominence in India. The service is up against several key challenges. Most important is the quality of the service, which needs to be top notch to attract users. According to Dr Mahesh Uppal, director, ComFirst, this is a function of bandwidth and until the right kind and quantity of bandwidth are available, quality will be an issue.While mobile TV is a good idea for traVellers and commuters, addressing the issue of patchy transmissions while on the move may be a challenge initially.
In India, spectrum is a scarce commodity. With the addition of more users, the network will get further congested, leading to a fall in the quality of service. Moreover, DVBH handsets are expensive ?? averaging Rs 35,000 a handset. This will put the service within the reach of only the affluent, urban population.Handsets with relatively smaller screens tend to stifle user experience.
According to Accenture, DVBH implementation must be carried out carefully as DVBH deployments raise several challenges. Cooperation between multiple partners, in order to develop the service and implement its infrastructure, is of topmost importance. At a macro level, this requires the seamless convergence of two separate value chains ?? traditional TV and wireless communication. The implementation of mobile TV involves achieving the integration of TV manufacturers, TV vendors, TV content providers and digital TV network operators, as well as the interests of terminal manufacturers, equipment vendors, platform vendors and mobile network operators.
In spite of innumerable problems, Uppal is very optimistic about India’s mobile TV growth prospects: “People are increasingly demanding entertainment while commuting or waiting for a bus or even taking a quick break in the office.They will want to watch a wide array of programmes from Bollywood trailers to cricket match highlights.”
Comparing mobile TV to IPTV, Uppal says: “IPTV has several disadvantages. It is a niche service and requires broadband connectivity. Current estimates suggest that there will be only 60 million IPTV subscribers by 2010. Mobile TV may have several times more.”
Service operators are enthusiastic about mobile TV. Having launched the service a month ago, a BPL Mobile spokesperson comments: “Overall growth will be a function of content availability, which subscribers on the move will value, and of technology, which will make downloads easier.However, with the growing value-added services trend in the industry, there is a huge potential in mobile TV. The VAS market is expected to be worth about Rs 45.6 billion by the end of 2007. It is likely to grow by 60 per cent next year.”
The future of mobile TV looks very bright. Not only will the impending launch of 3G services propel the segment significantly, but with operators investing in the growth and development of mobile TV services and TRAI actively working towards removing any potential technological and policy-related issues, mobile TV will definitely receive the boost it needs to take off in a big way.
