(18 March 2009 10:30 pm)

NEW DELHI: Speakers at two different sessions of the one-day Casbaa India Satellite Forum 2009 said that the prospects for the Indian broadcasting and satellite industry were bright, but there was need for some well-planned regulatory framework and easing of controls.

During a session on the need for a regulatory framework for telecom and broadcasting services, the speakers said there was space for all kinds of technologies and none could replace the other. But all this was decided by what one speaker described as the ‘march of consumerism’.

In his introductory remarks, Jorn Christensen, who is president of J Christensen Consultants, said though many new technologies including Wimax and Ku-band had come into play, the C-band was still the most viable for reaching the consumer. But he said that countries located in areas of heavy rainfall that relied on FSS C-band operations should not consider allocating BWA in C-band and some Asian countries had already regretted doing this. This did not work in Europe either because of heavy snowfall.

Ten Asian countries including India that had decided to be included in the footnotes in the 3.4 to 3.6 GHz band had tested BWA technologies (usually WiMAX) and had licensed or were considering licensing BWA networks.

Many alternative bands to the C-band were available for BWA, and these included 748 MHz below 2.7 GHz.

Christensen felt cellular operators could help close the digital divide as they upgraded their technologies to provide 3G and 4G services. Wimax worked better and more economically at lower frequencies.

He said the satellite and broadcasting industries needed to stay alert and involved in spectrum allocation policies in view of pressures within the International Telecommunications Union.

Hughes Communication CTO K Krishna said the need was to build networks that helped both terrestrial and satellite technologies and this led to a greater market for V-Sat in countries like the United States. But India was different as it was a buyers’ market.

But he stressed there was space for all technologies to co-exist, particularly as there was a ‘tremendous amount of convergence’. He said DTH had helped to create awareness among the consumers about satellite services.

Naresh Ajwani of Sify Technologies spoke of the legal challenges that had to be faced by those who came with new technologies. He said C-band was the survival band irrespective of Wimax or any other technology. He said in reply to a question that since the world had gone global, there was need for uniform guidelines on technology issues.

He said in reply to another question by moderator Kanchan Sinha of Amarchand & Mangaldas that security could not be sacrificed at the cost of personal privacy and said all these issues led to the main question of accountability. The lead in all this was being taken by the ‘march of consumerism’ and not technology as the former along with market forces decided what was needed.

Essel Shayam MD MN Vyas said greater freedom and leverage was needed for robust services but within the realm of a strong regulatory framework which ‘cannot be challenged by anybody or everybody’. The main challenge was of bandwidth availability.

In the other session about maximizing partnerships with India, speakers appreciated their partnerships or negotiations with Isro at various levels.

Paul Brown-Kenyon who is COO of Measat said felt partnerships were important and there was ample space for everyone to grow together, but there was need for a change of mindset and ensuring partnerships in win-win situations.

As far as India was concerned, he felt there was need for most cost-effective medium-sized satellites.

Asia Broadcast Services CEO Tom Choi said it was important for all satellite operators to abide by ITU guidelines. He referred to a recent agreement with Isro and complimented the latter for its work.

AsiaSat marketing general manager Sabrina Cubbon said cooperation should also mean working with customers and suppliers. Knowing the partner’s values was important to match each other’s assets. She said in reply to a question that DTH regulations in India were a deterrent to satellite providers.

SES New Skies VP sales, South Asia, Deepak Mathur said his group was working with Isro to set up V-Sat units. He said the key to cooperation lay in spectrum sharing and so the satellite industry needed to rely on each other.

Stephen Tom, Director Business Development for Intelsat, said there was space for all including Isro in India since the Indian economy was more open than many other economies in Asia.

SB Iyer, Director-CM and LS in Antrix Corporation, who moderated the session, briefly summarised the history of the growth of television in India.