Broadband TV for Just Rs 99

Telecom major Bharti airtel today announced the launch of its 'airtel broadband TV', which will allow its broadband users to watch live TV on their computers for a monthly rental of Rs 99. 

With the service, airtel broadband subscribers will be able to access 28 Live TV channels including UTV Bindass, UTV Movies, Bloomberg UTV, TLC, Animal Planet, all Discovery channels, Sakshi TV, Live India and Tarang Music. 

"This initiative is part of our commitment to offer enhanced broadband experience to our customers. We will soon add more content under news, soap and infotainment categories," Bharti airtel Chief Marketing Officer Telemedia Services Girish Mehta told PTI. 

The company also plans to offer 19 Video-on-demand (VOD) channels and 12 movies channels as per the chosen subscription plan. 

The service will work on Wi-Fi networks as well, Mehta added. 

Airtel, which has about 1.3 million broadband users in India, will introduce three monthly subscription plans -- Gold Pack with all Live and VOD channels and movies for Rs 99, Night Pack (all channels and movies from 9 PM to 9AM) for Rs 49 and My Pack (any 3 chosen channels) for Rs 49. 

Asked if consumers will have to pay extra for the data usage, Mehta said, "Customers will not have to pay extra for data usage, except for users in Noida and Punjab." 

He added, "We will make sure that quality of service is maintained even in lower bandwidth (speed) plans." 

Bharti airtel provides mobile voice and data services, fixed line, broadband, IPTV and DTH services in the country. source

India to issue mobile TV regulations, spectrum audit

A regulatory framework for the introduction of mobile TV services by private operators in India is soon to be introduced by The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (I&B).

According to the Times of India, the Ministry is currently laying down the rules of engagement, with a draft mobile TV policy expected to be put before the cabinet within the next three months, the newspaper reports.

“In this context, the recommendations of TRAI [Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India] have been examined and certain issues related to spectrum identification within the recommended band, the determination of service area licenses and the number of providers is under discussion,” said Raghu Menon, I&B secretary.

There is growing demand that some of India’s 700MHz frequency band, which is currently used for defence and broadcasting services, be auctioned for fourth generation (4G) mobile and wireless broadband applications.

The Controller and Auditor General of India (CAG) has, meanwhile, just announced is to undertake a comprehensive audit of the country’s total available spectrum, as well as its strategic and commercial use.

The move, reported by Business Standard, follows the country’s second generation (2G) spectrum auction debacle and a request last year by TRAI for a review of spectrum use, spectrum efficiency and solutions to current problems.

Communications Minister Kapil Sibal has also pledged that a blueprint on spectrum will be issued to operators by the government soon.source

Indian MobileTV Service Crosses Half Million

Hello TV has registered 500,000 subscribers to its mobile broadcast service, carried by India’s BSNL cellular network.

Brought to the market by Percept Knorigin, the digital arm of media company Percept Holdings, Hello TV is integrated into BSNL’s WAP portal allowing subscribers to watch streamed video from their browsers.

Both 3G and 2G users have subscribed to the service since its launch a year ago and single channel packs for Hello TV are priced at Rs10 per day, Rs 20 per week, and Rs 30 per month, while a mix of 30 channels is available for a month priced at Rs 149.

Apalya, a competitor to Hello TV, is also available on BSNL via its MiMobi TV application. Single channel packages are priced at Rs 10 per day or Rs 50 per month, and Rs 150 per month for a subscription to all of the TV channels it has to offer.

“The ARPUs [average revenues per user] for mobile TV services are in the range of Rs20 and the churn is high,” said Viraj Malik, managing director and chief executive officer of Percept Knorigin to online publication MediaNama.com. “We are open to working with operators who believe in equitable revenue share and commit to promoting the service.”

Percept Knorigin is currently planning to launch a targeted mobile TV Apple iPad application for Indians living abroad, according to the publication, and is also in discussions for the roll out of 3G and GPRS mobile TV services with three major operators in the next three months.source

How 3G will be of use to common man

You can understand 3g or be confused by it but the fact remains that you just cannot ignore it. The layman's world has grown too fast. Every day technical jargon keeps getting dumped into our routine lives and we are not sure if we really have gotten the hang of it all. Yet, the progress is palpable. It is there all around us and we embrace it and move on, sometimes with almost zero comprehension. we have been hearing the words 2G, 3G and even 4G, now that we all know about iPhones. So what are these Gs? What do they stand for and what exactly do they do? How does it reach the layman and of what use is it? Well, dear reader, that is exactly what this post will try to lend clarity on.

So for the most elementary question, What do the Gs stand for? Well, G means Generation. The world of telecom administrators have named the connections available as First, Second and Third Generations. An obvious illation here would be that each progressing generation is better equipped to connect the world than the previous one. Now when the mobile phones first came into existence 1G networks were used to transmit these signals. The signals used in 1G were analog. Meaning they were prone to many distortions, interference, cross calls im-practical in a few areas and lots of losses. This also meant the handsets had to bigger in size to facilitate proper usage. Then came 2G, where in the major difference/*improvement from 1G was, these signals were digital. The transmitted messages were coded digitally and this eventually improved all the disadvantages of the 1G connection.

Presently we are in the midst of a revolution(Late in India). The 3G standards have come into the nation and along it brings a fresh crisp and faster life. 3G technology enables faster internet access speed, owing to the fact that the channel available for internet access is larger than the one available in 2G. In 3G one can expect speed close to around 200 Kbit/s and more. Refer the Wiki page : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3G. Now the 2G networks suffered due to lack of bandwidth and so it couldn't offer many services. But now that the 3G is here it offers,, by virtue of its bandwidth availability a host of mouth watering features like :

• Mobile TV – a provider redirects a TV channel directly to the subscriber's phone where it can be watched.
• Video on demand – a provider sends a movie to the subscriber's phone.
• Video conferencing – subscribers can see as well as talk to each other.
• Tele-medicine – a medical provider monitors or provides advice to the potentially isolated subscriber.
• Location-based services – a provider sends localized weather or traffic conditions to the phone, or the phone allows the subscriber to find nearby businesses or friends.
So keeping away all technical terms and speaking strictly as a normal common man, 3G stands for the following :
1. Faster speed for internet 2. More features like TV and media streaming 3. Video calling facility (needs more bandwidth hence not available in 2G ) 4. More security over 2G 5. Truly, the power of the world will come into the palm of our hands... So long then dear readers, hope this post did, if not completely at least partly, shed some clarity on the happening 3G phenomenon. Cheers source