The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), an industry body which represents the private telecom operators, has expressed concerns over the technical evaluation of the D2M (Direct-to-Mobile) broadcasting. COAI believes that the technical tests conducted for evaluating D2M falls short of the transparent, consultative, and technology-neutral framework as envisaged by the government. The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) had, during a stakeholder meet in September 2025, asked for the D2M technology to be thoroughly evaluated.
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"Direct-to-Mobile broadcasting has far-reaching implications for spectrum, networks, devices and consumer safety. Any national-level technical evaluation of such a technology must be transparent, inclusive and technology-neutral, with active participation of all affected stakeholders. COAI firmly believes that policy decisions of this magnitude must be grounded in comprehensive, technical assessments to safeguard network integrity, efficient spectrum use and long-term digital growth," said Dr S.P. Kochhar, Director General, COAI.
COAI has noted that the industry stakeholders including the telecom service providers (TSPs), device ecosystem players, and more were left out of the tests. But this is not the only thing that's troubling COAI. The body has a key concern, which is that the evaluation focused on only one technology standard, without assessing other comparable and globally relevant solutions such as cellular-based broadcast technologies.
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Thus, COAI has asked for the tests be re-conducted with technical evaluation with a comprehensive and stakeholder finalised Terms of Reference (ToR). The telecom operators have to be included in these tests, believes COAI, and then standards have to be developed, KPIs to be set, and performance benchmarks to be announced. All of this needs to happen through an open consultative process led by the TEC. The D2M technology has been highly anticipated in the market, and has made not just the industry curious, but also the consumers.
