Smart Digivision Launches IPTV Services In Haryana with BSNL; 54 Cities By End 2009

BSNL has launched IPTV services in Haryana with Smart Digivision, an HFCL company, starting with 3 cities - Gurgaon, Faridabad and Ambala. The company plans to launch the service in up to 93 cities, and is viewing this as a means to retain its wireline customers. Smart Digivision is yet another IPTV company to set itself a bloated target - of 4 million IPTV subscribers in 3 years, and to this end, they will launch IPTV in 54 cities for which they have franchise agreements, according to a release.

Smart Digivision also provides IPTV services to HFCL Infotel customers. As of November 2008, HFCL had a very small wireline user base of 155,155 users, as compared to BSNL which had a total user base of 29,703,496 subscribers, of which 848,328 wireline customers are from Haryana.

The other key player in the IPTV space is Aksh Optifibre: there’s very little available on what IOL Netcom had done in the past year, and Time Broadband appears to be focusing more on the international market - particularly China. At the India Telecom 2008 conference last month, I was told that most IPTV service providers did pilots with BSNL and MTNL, and some of them have not launched commercial services since; we’re yet to confirm officially this, though.

P.s.: we couldnt locate the Smart Digivision website, so in case you know - do tell. An old PDF on the HFCL subsidiary here.

New Telco Roundup: Datacom Problems, Orissa Ops; Unitech Spectrum Timline

If this ET sources are to be believed, the Dhoots (Videocon Group) and the Nahatas (HFCL Group) are close to thrashing out a resolution to their long standing dispute over new telco Datacom. Datacom has licenses to operate in all 22 circles, and should be a prime target for foreign investment, but the standoff between the two owners has led to a delay.

Mahendra Nahata may sell his stake in Datacom for Rs. 2116 crores, but is also open to raising funds to buy out the 64% that the Dhoots own. Remember that Nahata’s Jumbo Techno Services reportedly owned 90% in Datacom before the Dhoots picked up 64%. The dispute has been over the fund raising - Videocon was to invest $901 million in the company.

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MTNL 3G Services Demo’ed; Commercial Launch By Mid Feb

Updated below
At the India Telecom 2008 Summit today, 3G services were launched with an inaugural video conversation between Telecom Minister A.Raja and Prime Minister Manmohan Singh. However, that was just a “soft launch” - 3G infrastructure has not been fully deployed yet, and MTNL sources told MediaNama that the 3G network is present only in a 10 km radius around Central Delhi.

According to our sources, the commercial launch of 3G services is planned for the middle of February, though it could also stretch to early March, depending on the infrastructure rollout. MTNL is yet to finalize a tariff plan, and despite repeated prodding, the executives at the MTNL stall did not comment on the tariff.

We did get to try out some of the services that have been launched:

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3G In India: MTNL Inks Mobile TV Deal With Aksh Optifibre; What About Apalya?

Aksh Optifibre has announced a partnership with MTNL to launch Mobile TV services in Delhi and Mumbai. These services will essentially be delivered over 3G networks. Remember that there are two ways for mobile devices (whether handsets, TV sets in cars etc) to receive TV content - via the mobile operator or as a terrestrial, satellite or hybrid broadcast. Aksh’s deal is essentially for content delivery over the mobile network.

Aksh will offer high quality MPEG 4 content at high resolution. They’ve already got content from DD, Neo Sports, CNN and NDTV, and plan to also include music channels. While the consultation process for Mobile TV is over, the policy is yet to be announced. We believe the battle over Mobile TV has not yet begun, and it will take at least six months, if not over a year for the policy to be finalized.

Franchise Route To Mobile TV? What About Apalya Technologies?

MTNL already provides quite a few channels over the 2.75 G networks, powered by Hyderabad based Apalya Technologies (now rebranded as MiMobi.tv). The Apalya powered service includes channels like Zoom, Times Now, Aaj Tak, NDTV 24×7, NDTV India, Bindass, NDTV Profit, Headlines Today, CNN, BBC World, FTV, India TV, among others. So happens to Apalya’s service, now that Aksh is launching the same? Is MTNL taking the franchise route to Mobile TV?

Aksh already has franchise agreements with MTNL for IPTV (iControl) and Voice Over Internet Protocol (Pigeon) with MTNL, but these are landline based services. Smart Broadband (HFCL), IOL Netcom and Time Broadband are other IPTV service providers with franchise agreements with MTNL and BSNL.

I don’t agree with the idea of having franchise deals for content services from a single operator - it leads to a lack of standardisation in what the telco is marketing as its own service.

How Prepared Is MTNL For The 3G Launch?

How prepared is MTNL to launch 3G services? It’s certain that the company is going to launch 3G services tomorrow - the CMD RSP Sinha is now on record stating that the service will be made available to its existing “premium” customers in Delhi for two months, before being launched in Mumbai. They want customers to try out the services before paying a premium for them.

But in its rush to launch the service - indeed, officially be the first 3G carrier in India - MTNL doesn’t appear to be adequately prepared. The network in Delhi is not yet complete, and the service will be restricted to NDMC areas and Gurgaon. What’s more, I just called the MTNL mobile helpline to inquire about how I can sign up for 3G services, and I was assured that “There is no such service being launched.”

The governments annual telecom conference, India Telecom 2008, begins tomorrow, and there is little doubt that the 3G launch has more to do with the conference than the actual preparedness of the company to launch 3G services. And that is sad, but symptomatic of the government owned telco’s approach.

Says Sinha, to the Hindu, “We were the first to launch broadband service, IPTV and Voice over Internet Protocol. Now, we are all set to become the first to launch 3G services in the country.”

Suzlon CMD & Family Pick Up 49% In You Telecom Subsidiary

Suzlon Chairman and MD Tulsi Tanti and his family have picked up 49% in Digital Outsourcing, the cable TV subsidiary of broadband company You Telecom. According to Business Standard, the deal size is estimated to be around Rs. 100 crores. You Tele had entered the cable TV business in January this year, with the acqusiition of 50% stake in Bangalore based cable operator Digital Infotainment; a deal that was done through Digital Outsourcing. Interestingly, You Telecom is a case of an ISP entering the Cable TV business…there’s probably more money there, than in the ISP business.

At that time, You Tele held 51 percent stake in Digital Outsourcing. According to the BS report, You Tele now owns 36% in Digital Outsourcing. Citigroup Venture Capital owns 85% in You Telecom, while the Times Group (BCCL) owns 5%. Over the past year or so, I’ve read a few reports of You Telecoms plans - of a Rs. 300 crores expansion and a Rs. 400 crores expansion…Any idea when we can read about a Rs. 500 crores expansion for the company? Expansion aside, You Telecom, earlier this year, also entered into a 50:50 JV with Red Snapper, a Malaysian wireless and VoIP operator, which owns a Widea Area WiFi technology.

I&B Ministry May Allow Cable Operators Right Of Way For IPTV

We’ve heard that the I&B Ministry and the TRAI can’t quite see eye-to-eye over IPTV regulations - the regulations were released by the I&B Ministry, but also covered telecom operators. Soma Das writes in The Financial Express that the the I&B Ministry is planning to recommend that Cable Operators also be granted Right of Way for laying down and owning fibre optic infrastructure and setting up transmission towers. At present, only Telecom operators and ISPs are allowed the Right of Way, which gives them a competitive advantage over Cable Operators in case of IPTV services.

I wonder how things will play out when Cable Operators offer IPTV or digital cable over fibre - if it’s over Internet Protocol, then they can also provide value added services, over Internet Protocol. In that case, shouldn’t it also be governed by the Telecom Ministry? This is an era of a convergence of Telecom and Broadcast, and we need a convergence of regulation…perhaps even a convergence of Ministries (I&B and Telecom).

However, the ideal solution would be to separate content from carriage - in which all content transmitted would be governed by the Ministry of I&B, and the distribution business - of DTH, Cable TV, IPTV, Mobile TV, Broadband and Mobile will come under the Telecom Ministry. I made a few notes from the TRAI Open House Discussion over Cross Media Ownership, and will put those up soon.