Direct-to-mobile broadcasting trials in 19 cities soon: I&B secy Apurva Chandra

Mobile users may soon be able to stream videos without a SIM card or an internet connection as Direct-to-Mobile broadcasting could become a reality in the near future.

Addressing a Broadcasting Summit, Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra said trials of the home-grown Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) technology would soon be held in 19 cities and made a strong pitch for reserving the 470-582 MHz spectrum for this emerging technology.

Chandra said a 25-30% shift of video traffic to D2M would unclog the 5G networks, accelerating the nation’s digital evolution and democratising content delivery.

Last year, pilot projects to test the D2M technology were carried out in Bengaluru, Kartavya Path and Noida.

"Now you can receive television signals directly to your mobile. This is a very interesting technology, which has the potential to increase the reach of television media," he said.

He said mobile phone users will have to attach a special dongle to their mobile devices to receive television signals. Chandra said mobile manufacturers will have to be encouraged to install a special chip in the phone devices so that television signals can be received without the dongle.

Chandra said the D2M technology would help reach nearly 8-9 crore “TV Dark” homes across the country. Of the 280 million households in the country, only 190 million have television sets.

He said there were 80 crore smartphones in the country and 69% of content accessed by users was in the video format.

Chandra said heavy use of video led to the clogging of mobile networks, which resulted in the buffering of content.

Developed by Saankhya Labs and IIT Kanpur, the D2M broadcasting technology leverages terrestrial telecommunications infrastructure and public broadcaster-assigned spectrum to transmit video, audio, and data signals directly to compatible mobile and smart devices.

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