Airtel Seeks Permission For Mobile TV Pilot

Now that public broadcaster DD has piloted Mobile TV with Nokia, mobile operators don’t want to miss out. Financial Express reports that Bharti Airtel has asked for permission for its own mobile TV pilots, demanding a level playing field – currently only DD is allowed terrestrial broadcasting.

Airtel intends to use the terrestrial broadcasting technology DVBH, but is likely to be turned down since only DD has a terrestrial broadcasting license. It should be noted that DD has been asked to vacate spectrum to allow entry of private players in terrestrial broadcasting. Also, this is not going to put a squeeze on spectrum being utilized for cellular services; if anything, I think terrestrial broadcasting is another opportunity for Bharti’s tower business. But does it make sense to also use 3G spectrum (once it is available) for mobile TV?

In terms of regulation, mobile TV via terrestrial broadcasting will be regulated by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, while the Ministry of Communications and IT will regulate tv via telecom networks.

loading

Comments have been disabled for this post