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Before the first step has been taken, questions about its legalities have come up. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) thinks that IPTV services launched by state-owned Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) is illegal as per the Cable Televisions Networks (Regulations) Act.  The contention is that as per the Cable Television Networks (Regulation) Amendment Bill, '02, free to air TV channels, which is what MTNL is currently offering, cannot be offered using a technology such as set top boxes.  Plus, there is also a very complicated explanation as to why MTNL does not have in its license the permission to offer triple play services.

After MTNL announced that its 3 lakh broadband subscribers in Delhi and Mumbai will get phone, Internet and television services in one basket, there has been quite a bit of buzz in the market place. And one must give full credit to MTNL, which has got the latest ADSL 2+ and MPEC 4 part 10, latest technologies for broadband and compressions, and these technologies have not yet been deployed commercially anywhere in the world.

Let's look at the offer carefully before getting into a debate on its legality. MTNL will offer IPTV for its broadband customers, who have to pay Rs 199 a month to get 25 free-to-air channels. MTNL plans to increase the number of channels to over 200 later. Users have to shell out an additional Rs 6,000 for a separate set top box to get IPTV. This means that subscribers in the two metros will also be able to avail various other IPTV applications such as songs and movies on demand, and later on in the future, even several e-governance utilities and e-commerce. The biggest attraction is that voice, video, and Internet come over a single wire, can be used simultaneously, and a richer experience.

Commercially the offer is not too attractive. In MTNLs case, a maximum retail price of Rs 5 per pay channel and consumers has been fixed, and subscribers can pick as many as they want. Today, cable operators offer almost 100 channels for Rs 250, and as and when CAS comes the flexibility for subscribers to pick and chose and pay for viewing programs will be much more than IPTV. In fact, adding one more technology to cable, DTH, and CAS only creates confusion in the market. Why can't the government interpret the Cable TV Network policies so that subscribers finally have more options to choose from? Have we not seen this happening in mobile telephony? Why should this not be allowed for other areas too.

The most interesting observation is that even the regulator feels that its hands are tied. While Nripendra Mishra, chairman of TRAI thinks that this service needs legal opinion from the ministry of information and broadcasting before it is given a green signal, he also agrees that the march of technology cannot be stopped.

It will therefore be a litmus test for our policy makers as well as regulators. It is up to them whether they promote and encourage these advances in technology and services that will ultimately benefit subscribers, or if they will bow down to pressure from those who do not want change for self interest. Whether any law has been broken by MTNL or not, its triple play is a milestone, and will define how communications technology progresses in the country.

ibrahima@cybermedia.co.in