BackMobile TV policy draft to go for cabinet nod in 3 months
Mobile TV policy draft to go for cabinet nod in 3 months
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New Delhi: The draft of mobile TV policy is in final stages and is expected to go for the cabinet nod within next three months, a senior government official said on Friday.
“There were some technical issues which had been looked by team of technical experts headed by chief engineer of Doordarshan. The report has come to us now. We are working on it," Raghu Menon, secretary, information and broadcasting ministry, told PTI.
When asked about timeline for the policy, Menon said that the ministry will send the draft of policy for cabinet approval in next two to three months. “We will be able to send in next two to three months to the cabinet."
Before sending the draft to the cabinet, the ministry of information and broadcasting will discuss with the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) the nitty gritty related to spectrum allocation to mobile TV service providers.
“We are in discussion with DoT to finalize spectrum frequency band to be allocated, number of service provider, spectrum availability and licence area for mobile TV players," Arvind Kumar, joint secretary (broadcasting), ministry of information and broadcasting, told PTI.
DoT has proposed to I&B ministry to reassess need of Doordarshan in UHF V frequency band which extends from 582 Mhz to 960 Mhz. DoT has asked the ministry to adjust need of Prasar Bharati in this frequency band and free entire 100 Mhz of spectrum in 700 Mhz frequency band.
This 700 Mhz frequency band has been in great demand for mobile and wireless broadband services as technology required to be deployed in this frequency band will be cheaper compared to high frequency band.
At present, I&B ministry is of the view that this 700 Mhz frequency band should be used for mobile TV. However, the final view on this is yet to be taken.
Officials of I&B ministry expect to finalize the issue in a couple of months time and include this proposal in the draft of policy for mobile TV.
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