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The sector is marred with disputes relating to actual subscriber base, poor quality of service and inadequate consumer grievance redressal mechanism. The non-availability of authenticated data, lack of supervisory guidance and unorganized development of Cable TV industry are some of the roadblocks to explore its full potential. The Authority has recommended a well defined, robust and supportive licensing framework to restructure the Cable TV sector in order to boost planned, sustained growth and better services to customers.

The recent technological developments are likely to trigger a fierce competition in the TV Broadcasting sector and the conventional Cable TV operators may face stiff competition from operators running TV networks based on advance distribution technologies like Direct to Home (DTH), Headend in the Sky (HITS), Internet Protocol Television (IPTV) etc. With more and more convergence taking place especially between Broadcasting and Telecommunication sectors, the conventional analog cable TV networks will have to be upgraded for exploiting new avenues for delivering the converged services.

Widening the scope of available Cable TV network to provide value added services like Broadband will drastically help Cable TV operators to improve their business models. The convergence and advent of NGN will require high speed broadband access to subscribers. Cable operators can contribute a lot in this direction as it will help to increase broadband penetration drastically. This will definitely require up-gradation of present Cable TV Networks to two-way digital cable networks. Such network upgradation requires huge resources inflow which can be attracted only in a well organized sector with supportive regulatory framework.

The Authority had initiated a consultation process by floating a detailed consultation paper on “Restructuring of Cable TV Services” on 4th March, 2008. Emphasis has been laid on long term stable, organized and supportive licensing framework to encourage innovation & investments in the sector with emphasis on better services and effective customer grievance redressal mechanism. The Authority is conscious of the contributions made by present Local Cable Operators (LCOs). It also recognizes the investments made by the LCOs in terms of time, manpower and money. Therefore, the framework being suggested would encourage continuing role for the present Cable TV operators in the restructuring of the Sector.

These recommendations are a step forward to restructure Cable TV Networks to ensure effective licensing compliance, attract investment, facilitate new value added services and encourage digitization.

The salient features of the recommendations are mentioned below:

• Greater emphasis laid on network digitization, increased addressability and to encourage voluntary CAS.
• Incentives prescribed to Multi System Operators (MSOs) to introduce total digitized networks.
• The registration for cable TV operator to be replaced by a comprehensive and supportive licensing framework.
• Separate licensing frameworks for Cable TV operators (LCOs) and Multi System Operators (MSOs).
• Eligibility criterion made specific to identify the entities who can act as LCOs and MSOs
• Option and flexibility to choose Service area given both to LCOs and MSOs.
• Entry Fee
• LCO- Rs 10000/- and Rs. 100000/- for District and state level respectively.
• MSO- Rs. 1 Lakh, Rs. 10 Lakhs and Rs. 25 lakhs for District, State and Country level respectively.
• New license and renewal of license in time bound manner.
• Duration and Administrative Cess for respective License well defined.
• Licensing Authority and Appellate Authority well defined.
• Easy migration of valid registered Cable TV operators.
• A well defined Subscriber complaint redressal mechanism & Subscriber Billing system.
• Quality of service defined for LCOs and MSOs.
• Data collection procedure for LCOs and MSOs well defined to ensure organized and systematic growth.
• Penalty provisions including suspension and termination of license for effective compliance of licensing conditions.
• LCOs & MSOs encouraged to use latest transmission technologies such as fiber etc for better quality of service. Both MSOs & LCOs made eligible for Right of Way (RoW).
• Special concession of 50% in entry fee for LCOs and MSOs for an initial period of three years for J&K and North Eastern states.

Detailed recommendations are available on TRAI’s website www.trai.gov.in.
info http://pib.nic.in/release/release.asp?relid=40731

Mobile WiMAX Wave2 products introduce a number of new features including Multi-In Multi-Out (MIMO) and Smart Antenna. These features enable the fastest data rate, up to 37Mbps for downlink and 10Mbps for uplink, among currently available mobile technologies in service. At this speed users can download 3MB MP3 music files within 0.7 seconds and 700MB movie files within less than 3 minutes.

“We are very excited to obtain the Mobile WiMAX Wave2 certification from WiMAX Forum by successfully passing all rigorous certification tests. This once again shows Samsung’s leadership in Mobile WiMAX technologies.” said Geesung Choi, President of Telecommunication Business at Samsung Electronics.

“I am confident in Mobile WiMAX as one of the most promising solutions for mobile broadband services. This important milestone exhibits the technology is ready and mature and Samsung will accelerate the commercialization with in the global market to open new era of mobile broadband world,” Mr. Choi said.

“The WiMAX Forum would like to thank Samsung and the other member companies that have worked so hard to achieve today’s milestone and enabling the Forum to continue to reach critical objectives with the ongoing certification of Mobile WiMAX equipment,” said Ron Resnick, president of the WiMAX Forum during a press conference at the WiMAX Forum Global Congress in Amsterdam.

“Samsung has played an important role in WiMAX Forum’s success of driving market momentum by enabling us to move closer to delivering on our plan to certify more than 100 Mobile WiMAX products in 2008. Our seven independent WiMAX Forum certification labs are on now online to manage the anticipated increase of products to be submitted for certification.”

The Wave2 certification designation today together with Wave1 certification award in April this year puts Samsung in a very few elite class of vendors which possess both certified commercial Mobile WiMAX Wave1 and Wave2 product lineups.

Samsung’s Mobile WiMAX Wave2 solutions are expected to be commercially available through KT and SKT in South Korea from later this year and UQ Communications in Japan from next summer.

The WiMAX Forum is an industry-led, not-for-profit organization formed to certify and promote the compatibility and interoperability of broadband wireless products based upon the harmonized IEEE 802.16/ETSI HiperMAN standard. Currently, the organization has more than 500 member companies including service providers, regulators, equipment vendors, chip vendors, and content providers.

About Samsung Electronics

Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd. is a global leader in semiconductor, telecommunication, digital media and digital convergence technologies with 2007 consolidated sales of US$103.4 billion. Employing approximately 150,000 people in 134 offices in 62 countries, the company consists of four main business units: Digital Media Business, LCD Business, Semiconductor Business, and Telecommunication Business. Recognized as one of the fastest growing global brands, Samsung Electronics is a leading producer of digital TVs, memory chips, mobile phones and TFT-LCDs. For more information, please visit www.samsung.com.

“WiMAX Forum” is a registered trademark of the WiMAX Forum. “WiMAX, “the WiMAX Forum logo, “WiMAX Forum Certified,” and the WiMAX Forum Certified logo are trademarks of the WiMAX Forum. All other trademarks are the properties of their respective owners.
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