The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) has called for the re-evaluation of the Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) network draft policy. COAI is an industry body that represents the interests of private telecom companies in India and outside India. The Indian government is planning to launch D2M broadcasting technology in the coming year. It will allow content to be broadcasted to the phones directly without the need for data. This would offload a lot of video traffic from the mobile networks and ensure that mobile customers browsing the internet or downloading files get a much better experience due to the offloading of traffic.
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While the technology sounds promising, there are multiple concerns that COAI has shared related to the draft policy for the D2M networks. According to the industry body, the present proposal for the D2M broadcasting tech has to be reviewed comprehensively, especially from a level-playing field perspective. The spectrum envisaged for D2M services (526 - 582 MHz) has also been identified by TRAI as important for IMT services, and thus has commercial value. COAI has asked for the spectrum to be auctioned.
COAI said, "Offloading cellular networks also requires a close integration of broadcasting capabilities with cellular networks so that the spectrum and infrastructure can be optimally leveraged for broadcasting and IMT services as per the demand. A dedicated D2M network, built by a third party, will not be able to achieve these aspects optimally."
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Many things are questionable about the technology at the moment. Firstly, is it disrupting the level-playing field status? Secondly, are all the commercially available handsets in the market compatible with the said technology? Thirdly, can this co-exist without deteriorating the mobile usage experience of customers in general concerning both data and video experiences?
COAI also said, "Importantly, there seems to be an incorrect assumption that a dedicated D2M network is required for sending alerts during disasters. Cellular networks have been successfully delivering SMS-based disaster alert messages through Common Alerting Protocol (CAP) platform."
