Further delays to Indian cable operators’ IPTV service

TRAI, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, wants to progress the provision of IPTV services by cable and telecom operators in India, but the large number of unregistered cable operators in the country is posing a problem.

The recommendations of TRAI on IPTV services have been approved by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B).

Speaking at an international conference on Internet Protocol multimedia subsystems, TRAI secretary R K Arnold said that to bring under regulation a huge chunk of unregistered cable operators would take time. He stated that there are about 50,000 unregistered operators in the sector.

‘’Volume-wise there are about 70,000 small and big operators, but only 20,000 of them are registered,’’ he said.

With the I&B Ministry’s approval, operators registered under the Cable Television Network (Regulation) Act 1995 will be able to provide IPTV services without requiring further licence.

However, according to sources, TRAI’s recommendations for telecom companies and Internet Service Providers to provide IPTV services have not yet received approval from the Department of Telecommunication.

Further delays may arise from bandwidth issues and complications that still remain unaddressed. Observers say that IPTV services require increased bandwidth, which will require network upgradation to be undertaken by the cable broadcasters.





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