14 Dec 2010|Noida | Amity University Campus, Sector-125 Noida
10% increase in Broadband Penetration will lead to 1.38% rise in the GDP of the country”, opine telecom stalwarts during an awareness Seminar for Cable Operators at Amity
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has come up with a key recommendation to digitize the Cable TV Distribution System and has fixed the deadline for the complete migration from analogue to digital cable services as December 31,2013. This massive transition from analogue to digital requires training programmes and awareness seminars for the Local Cable Operators (LCOs) so they can understand the benefits of switching over to digital transmission and are braced up to implement the proposed change.
Keeping this in background, Amity Institute of Telecom Technology and Management(AITTM) organized a seminar on "Digitization of Cable TV Distribution System" for Amity Institute of Advanced Telecom Training & Research , the Research & Training arm and an off shoot of AITTM at Amity Campus, Sector- 125, Noida. This is for the first time in the country that a University has taken a lead to conduct awareness seminar for training and educating cable operators pan India about the need to digitize the cable transmission.
The seminar was organized to implement TRAI’s recommendation to the Government. to phase out Analog System and Digitize Cable TV distribution system and was focused towards building up awareness and training the Cable TV Operators pan India. Large number of operators from all over India including Punjab, Haryana, Uttar Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, Uttaranchal, West Bengal, Maharashtra, Bihar, Punjab, Goa and Tamil Nadu participated and gained useful insights on the subject.
The Seminar was inaugurated by the Chief Guest, Mr. Bhagwan D Khurana- CMD, Newgen Holdings, Mr Francois Pogodalla- CEO, ADB Global, Switzerland, Mr. Vijay Yadav- MD, UT Star Com, Mr. N Parameswaran- Principal Advisor, TRAI, Maj Gen K Jai Singh- Vice Chancellor, Amity University, Uttar Pradesh and Gen. P D Bhargava- Director General, Amity Institute of Telecom Technology and Management (AITTM).
Welcoming the august gathering, Mr. Naseem Ahmed, Vice Chairman AIATTR said that there are over 550 channels in India and it is not possible to transmit all the channels through analogue transmission, on which the cable industry thrives at present. The recommended switch over from analogue to digital transmission is the need of the hour, which will not only improve the quality of TV channels but will also improve the broadband penetration, Tele- Health, Tele- education, E- Commerce services in the country. The salvation of the country, he stressed, lies in increasing Broadband Penetration, which can be done speedily by Digital Cable Transmission. Talking about the awareness seminar, Mr. Ahmed further said that the seminar is the first step towards educating the Cable operators and their technicians on digital transmission and in future, more such programmes and tutorials will be organized by AIATTR, supplementing the efforts of TRAI.
Sharing some important statistics with the gathering, Mr. N Parameswaran- Principal Advisor, TRAI said that India has over 500 million viewers, 85 million Cable TV subscribers, 60,000 Cable Operators and the maximum number of Cable TV subscribers are located in Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka and West Bengal. Dwelling on the limitations of Analog Cable TV System, Mr. Parameswaran opined that Analog Cable TV system suffers from lack of clarity in terms of cable subscriber base and carriage and placement fees, lack of effective competition, frequent disputes among stakeholders and limited channel carrying capacity. Mr. Parameswaran, further, shared the various incentives which are being recommended by TRAI for motivating the Cable Operators to digitize the cable transmission including “Income Tax Holiday till March 31, 2019”, “Zero Custom Duty for digital head end equipment for next three years” and “Rationalization of taxes and levies”. He called upon all the Local Cable Operators to extend their full might and support in the recommended analog switch over, which is followed and adapted world over now.
Sharing the need and benefit of analog transmission of Cable TV, Mr. Bhagwan D Khurana- CMD, Newgen Holdings and a telecom expert who has witnessed the evolution and subsequent revolution in the Telecom sector since 1980 said, “Indian television industry is poised for a giant leap forward. With growth engines coming from advertising and subscription revenues, the segment is estimated to touch Rs. 522 billion by 2014 from Rs. 257 billion in 2009.Digitization of Cable TV Distribution System is the first step for realizing the Broadband vision of India. Digitization of Cable TV distribution system will occupy fewer frequencies and there will be enough resources left for IPTV. Digital Cable TV improves signal quality and offers more interactive and value added services like Video on Demand, Time Shift TV and many more. The Digital Cable TV will provide great impetus to Indian economy.”
Commending the recommendation of TRAI, Mr. Upendar Garewal- a Cable Operator from Ropar, Punjab and a participant of the awareness Seminar said that the digitization of Cable Tv Transmission is a very welcoming decision for all the Cable Operators, who initially have to invest heavily in updating the systems but with the various incentives mooted by the TRAI, they will reap huge benefits in the long run. It will be a win-win situation for both cable operators and consumers who will not only experience better quality of channels but will also be able to watch over 500 channels on TV.
The Inauguration was followed by informative sessions wherein industry experts shared their views with the participants.
During the first session, Mr. Triggve Arveschoug , Head Product Marketing, Conax , Norway addressed the audience on Conditional Access System ( CAS) IPR Protection and Benefits. This was followed by an address by a speech on Benefits of Digitization by by Mr. Ashok Kilam , Director Technical HBE.
The second session saw deliberations by Mr. Douglas Pierce - Senior Vice President & General Manager, ADB Global, on Set Top Box Evolution, Mr. Lesjek Koltunski – Senior Software Engineer, ADB Global, on Value Added Services, Mehresh Lalit – VP UT Starcom on ‘ IPTV – Is it good for cable TV too ? ‘and Mr. Naseem Ahmed – Vice Chairman AIATTR on ‘ where is the Business for LCO/MSO ?
The participants were so enthused that some of them deposited fees for the tutorials planned for Jan-Feb 2011. Response was tremendous.