Telcos, chip makers oppose direct-to-mobile plan; say tech still immature

The D2M proposal is also likely to make smartphones in India costlier by at least Rs 2,500

Telecom companies, network providers and chip makers have opposed the Centre's proposed decision to show TV content directly on mobile phones without data connections, The Economic Times (ET) reported on Wednesday. The industry says the technology is still immature.

The move is also likely to make smartphones in India costlier by at least Rs 2,500. Moreover, industry experts were quoted in the ET report as saying that the telcos will lose heavily on their data revenue due to the move. 

Moreover, chip makers may also face supply constraints due to the move.

The comments of several stakeholders, including the Cellular Operators Association of India, were recently submitted to the Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC). The Centre has yet to take a call on them.

The direct-to-mobile (D2M) roadmap was made by IIT Kanpur. It said that once D2M is launched, it will allow broadcasters to use it as a data pipe and deliver various applications that are a part of TV and radio. This will include educational content, disaster management updates and emergency alerts.

The users will not be required to rely on mobile broadband networks to stream the content.

Hardware makers have said that there will be problems with rolling out the service.

"The design and manufacture of mobile phones to incorporate ATSC 3.0 will adversely impact mobile manufacturing efforts," the India Cellular and Electronics Association (ICEA) was quoted as saying in the ET report. "The inclusion of any technology which is not proven and globally acceptable goes against the market forces and will derail the pace of domestic manufacturing and the most important exports for the exchequer."