The Indian telecom regulator's decision to clear the air surrounding the launch of mobile TV by broadcasting companies and telecom service providers is an indicator of their effort to scale internationally. Encouraged by the positive result following mobile operators' field trials globally, many Indian telecom companies are getting ready to plunge into the mobile TV business. But, this will happen only when the telecom regulator, TRAI, comes out with a comprehensive policy and identifies suitable spectrum bands.

Global markets are slightly ahead of India. Mobile broadcasting commercial services have already been launched in the US, Korea, Finland, and Germany among others. In India, Doordarshan has already started a mobile TV project and is in the process of rolling out commercial services. Mobile handsets maker Nokia is running a pilot project with national broadcaster Doordarshan to test the feasibility for commercial rollout of this service.

In the Race
Telecom service providers are not far behind in the race. Spice Telecom, the mobile service provider in Punjab, has unveiled Spice TV whereby its subscribers can watch live cricket on their mobile phones for the first time in India. Spice Telecom, the official telecom partner for the recently concluded Indian Cricket League, is now poised to enter a new level altogether with this service. Besides cricket, Spice Telecom subscribers can choose from a bouquet of thirteen channels such as NDTV, Times Now, Zoom, Bindaas, Cartoon Network among others.

However, market analysts say that translating mobile TV ventures in India into profit may take more time. Mobile operators have enjoyed revenue streams from voice and data, and with the media coming into the picture, mobile TV will be a stream to earn revenue, but only later. Broadcast TV on mobile handsets has seen good take up in South Korea and Japan, but even with five million viewers, the operators in these countries are having difficulties to break even. Considering the price sensitive mobile subscriber-base in India, offering free TV services in the initial phase since the launch and running advertisements would be a better option for operators. Availability of cost-effective handsets will be another hurdle along the way.

The International Camp
Many global telecom operators and broadcasters are vigorously looking at venturing into the mobile TV space. Verizon Wireless has recently enabled its customers in Detroit to watch broadcast-quality television on selected handsets. With V CAST mobile TV on the Verizon Wireless phones, customers of different age and interest can watch sports events, breaking news, and their favorite TV shows. The service offers live shows and mobile television content from many of the best-known entertainment brands. The service comes with parental control features. V CAST Mobile TV is unlike any other mobile television service available right now. It's like watching TV at home with a range of channels offering great shows and events to choose from.

Alcatel-Lucent and Italian broadcaster RAI recently announced the launch of a mobile TV network trial that will use a combination of satellite and terrestrial communications. The trial, which will take place in Torino, will use 3 Italia's cellular sites for indoor coverage. The terrestrial TV and broadcast services of RAI will be used for outdoor and car coverage. Alcatel-Lucent will offer the mobile-TV telecom kit and the integration services. According to Alcatel-Lucent, the fusion technology improves the quality and extends the accessibility of the service, which has till now been disappointing across Europe and North America.

The hybrid-satellite alternative is said to be one of the better tools to get uniform spectrum allocation, which is accessible across Europe in the same band, so there is significance in using hybrid-satellite for mobile TV. The S-Band spectrum is available all over Europe and gives operators the benefit of being able to offer mobile satellite services without exclusive local modifications. A majority of the other available spectrum bands will not recommend this kind of common, continentwide deployment. Alcatel-Lucent has tested its satellite-hybrid technology with Telefonica in Spain, and it is currently running similar tests with Vodafone in France. It plans to conduct trials next year with ICO in the US.

Siano Mobile Silicon has signed an alliance agreement with CMB Satellite and Huaqi to provide advanced solutions for China's CMMB mobile TV services, starting from the 2008 Olympics. CMMB is the technology developed in China as the main dais for delivering TV services to mobile devices. The CMMB network will use both satellite and terrestrial signals to obtain effective coverage, both in heavily populated cities as well as in scarcely populated rural areas. For the successful launch of CMMB, it is crucial that consumers are able to receive high quality signal, both indoors and out, using low power and low-priced handheld devices. As the global mobile TV market grows, China can showcase itself as the next economic powerhouse. Recently, the Media Development Authority of Singapore has decided to issue four licenses to companies that are ready to offer mobile TV in the later half of the year.

Regulatory Hurdles
Without TRAI's support, Indian customers cannot expect a better entertainment experience. An important question being asked by the industry is who would benefit besides the customer. Between a telecom operator and a broadcaster, who will succeed? TRAI's policy guidelines that will be the hot news for the new-year will clarify and bring in a new dimension to the questions being raised. Many telecom operators in India believe that mobile TV is an application and several technology options such as 2.5G (EDGE), 3G (HSDPA with MBMS), WiMax, DVB-H, MediaFLO, T-DMB, S-DMB, etc are being utilized to offer mobile TV.

The telecom regulator has declared that it would offer a proposal on mobile TV shortly to the information and broadcasting ministry to frame a policy on television broadcast through mobile handsets. In fact, a number of mobile operators and broadcasting companies have responded when TRAI sought suggestions from the industry on key issues such as auctioning of the spectrum, eligibility conditions among others. According to COAI, there is no reason to encourage any further analog terrestrial TV in India, and it should be mandated to give up the spectrum by converting it to digital within a particular timeframe, as is being done worldwide. Terrestrial TV has not been very successful in the past. In fact, the growing recognition of DTH, IPTV, and cable TV indicate that the popularity of terrestrial TV shall remain restricted to some nationally broadcasted channels.

There are diverse spectrum options for mobile TV broadcasting, which differ in terms of their transmission characteristics, availability, and implications of antennae design. In Europe, large quantities of the UHF spectrum will be available following the digital switchover, but not until 2012-15. Though, in order to ease and hasten the deployment of mobile TV, the European Commission has taken steps for promoting a common standard-DVB-H. Besides these, to promote the European approach to the availability of radio spectrum for these networks and services, member states are being encouraged to make some of the freed spectrum from the digital switchover available for mobile broadcasting as quickly as possible.

COAI does not think that it serves any purpose for India to approve any particular technology. But, in order to not exclude India's race for mobile TV, they recommend that a large portion of the UHF broadcasting spectrum be earmarked for mobile TV applications. They would also like to highlight that it should be made compulsory to covert analog TV broadcasting to digital within a pre-defined time frame so as to optimize spectrum requirement. The Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI) says that the eligibility criteria should be the same for DTH companies because their operation is very similar. According to MTNL, which has responded to the consultation paper, the existing UASL and CMTS licensees should get a license for running mobile TVs.

On the other side, Dish TV India believes that mobile TV is just like any other broadcast and content distribution platform available in the country such as cable TV, DTH service, etc, hence, needs to be regulated in the same manner. Along with other things, the technology to be deployed for implementing mobile TV should definitely be standards-based to allow interoperability in consumers' interest by way of regulations, and should not be left to the service alone. The reason for this is that it has to be ensured that the technology deployed is highly spectrum efficient.

Regulation is also necessary to make certain that it does not lead to a circumstance where a number of contending technologies are deployed in the country without appreciating the life, longevity, and technological relevance of the same, particularly when some of these anticipated technologies are most likely to become technically old-fashioned in a short period of time. A situation like this is neither in the interest of service providers nor in the interest of consumers.

Technology for the mobile TV service should be based on open international standards which will benefit both service providers and consumers, as well as handset manufacturers. This will lead to economies of scale and ensure the availability of cheaper handsets. The acceptance of international standards-based technology will also ensure interoperability of receiving devices.

AUSPI considers that a technology impartial approach needs to be adopted for mobile television service for permitting the choice of technology to access providers. The service provider should be free to pick the technology of his choice depending on his business interests. Under the issues for consultation in the paper, the authority has articulated that these issues are relevant for mobile TV service providers who would be a new class of operators excluding UASL. AUSPI is also of the firm view that since UASL licensees are permitted and are able to provide mobile TV under their existing license on their mobile telecommunication network, and there are already 6-7 operators in each service area, there will be enough rivalry in the market opposing the need for creating a new class of mobile TV operators apart from UASL licensees.

However, Bharti Airtel believes that mobile TV is an application which is inbuilt in the telecom licenses granted to mobile operators by the DoT. No other license should be needed for the provision of mobile TV service as per the present license conditions. Yet, if any non-telecom licensee wishes to provide the mobile TV service, a separate license should be given for such standalone mobile TV operators for which terms and conditions may be set by the government.

Licensing and its Facets
Zee Network suggests allocation of spectrum to all interested broadcasters, with a rollout obligation of a maximum of one year in the area it seeks licensing. At present, Zee does not want to advocate the grant of any spectrum to cellular mobile operators or those who have been granted WiMax spectrum. Auctioning of spectrum is not recommended for the present system as sufficient UHF slots are available, and auctioning will lead to hoarding of spectrum by those who may not ultimately provide services.

Regarding the eligibility criteria for grant of license for mobile TV services, the Zee Network believes that licensing of terrestrial services should be open to all eligible broadcasters and licensed DTH operators. In addition to the FDI guidelines, contenders with due experience, both in content generation and aggregation, as evidenced by broadcasting channels in the Indian markets, and experience in running a pay TV service through encryption and SMS/CRM centers, should be considered.

The Zee Network suggests a minimum net worth of Rs 1,000 crore for a company to be eligible to bid for a terrestrial or mobile TV license. This is due to the fact that rolling out terrestrial services, including mobile TV, requires large expenditure and capability to sustain operational losses for a couple of years as minimum. The tenure of license for terrestrial and mobile TV services should be ten years, extendable by an additional ten years. The license fees should be 4% of the adjusted gross revenue from mobile TV services or terrestrial transmission services. There should be no entertainment tax or service tax on such services. BPL Mobile suggests that in order to make the mobile TV service affordable to customers, a minimal license fee should be obligatory. It advises revenue share of up to 5%.

COAI, on whether frequency spectrum should be assigned through a market led approach-auctions and rollout obligation or utilization fee, recommends that the aim of introducing mobile TV in India should be to ensure penetration and make mobile TV a mass application. The wider socio-economic benefits must be kept in mind. So, mobile TV has to be an affordable offer, COAI said in its recommendation.

COAI suggests that spectrum allocation should be on a usage-based model as is being done for many other spectrum bands traditionally. And no additional license is needed for the provision of mobile TV service by telecom service providers. However, if any non-telecom licensee desires to provide mobile TV service, a separate appropriate license should be prescribed for the same. Accordingly, they propose that proper terms and conditions may be put in place for acquiring and operating a mobile TV service for a separate mobile TV service provider.

According to COFI, the net worth requirement should be based on the area of operation and type of license. FDI should be the same for all telecom and television broadcasting companies. The tenure of license for mobile TV service providers should be a minimum ten years and license fee should also be imposed depending on the type of license like in the case of mobile TV services. Hathway says that auctioning has not shown any preferred results and that is the reason why mobile service operators have migrated to a profit sharing model. So, the deployment fee should be linked to the revenue. Net worth criteria and bank guarantees should be the eligibility criteria for grant of license.

According to Star, regarding the eligibility conditions for grant of license for mobile television services, since the platform and services are relatively similar to FM radio, the conditions laid out for FM radio II would be the most suitable to follow. They agree with the study done by TRAI earlier, that the government should undertake a complete appraisal of the FDI policy for various sub-sectors in telecommunications and broadcasting so that there is consistency in policy and a level playing field between competing technologies. Though, under the current framework and policy, it should be in line with the FDI permitted under the telecom industry. Star also suggests that the license for MTV should be granted in the same manner as a UASL, ie, on circle basis. And tenure of license, license fee revenue share system should follow the same model as followed by FM radio II.

According to Intel, as far as the eligibility conditions for grant of license for mobile television services is concerned, the conditions should be specified in such a manner that it enables an open and fair method of evaluation for choosing licensees. They believe that auctions will enable the market to decide the optimum price of the spectrum. Incorporating a rollout obligation would ensure the desired attainability of the operator within the given time frame. The auction-based approach would also eliminate non-serious players who may otherwise try to compete for the spectrum.

Reliance Communications, on the issue of frequency spectrum allocation, suggests that Simultaneous Ascending Auction (SAA) is the best mechanism to determine a clear winner in a fair and transparent fashion. The SAA method is now a standard approach to spectrum auction. The SAA method has been used by FCC on a number of occasions. Countries such as Australia, Canada, Mexico, Netherlands and the UK are also using these auctioning processes.

TRAI is in the process of giving its suggestions. The industry is already a divided boat. When TRAI places its recommendations before the I&B Ministry, it should look at consumer demands, which include a better experience. Without a microscope or vivid imagination, watching cricket matches on a handset may leave a customer with a key question: you may have seen the score, but where was the ball? Indians do not want poor speed and deteriorating quality services from the operator whether a broadcaster or a mobile operator.

Baburajan K & Arpita Prem
baburajank@cybermedia.co.in