Digital Switch

Switching to digital TV in India could mean heading towards bridging the digital divide, this is the word the cellular operators' lobby has been spreading. Excited that mobile subscriber base in the country will touch the 500 mn mark any day in this fiscal, the Cellular Operators' Association of India has been now talking in the tongue that telecom regulator some years back spoke in. The 3G auction process is to be completed by the year end, a concern that has been giving the operators sleepless nights is spectrum crunch.

With newer technologies coming, the mobile broadband usage is expected to grow exponentially over the next three years, bringing Internet to more than 1.3 bn people globally by 2012. In India the mobile broadband will have an opportunity to grow the numbers faster, if more spectrum becomes available.

TRAI had already sounded alarm long time back over the spectrum scarcity and recommended that the Government should set up a committee to develop a roadmap for exploiting the digital dividend whereby broadcasting services shift from analog to more spectrally efficient digital bands. This will free up spectrum for mobile services, especially in rural areas. There have been success stories of moving to digital TV. In the UK, regulator Ofcom estimated that the allocation of the digital dividend would provide between euro7.5 bn and euro15 bn over 20 years for the UK economy alone.

Industry feels allotting digital dividend spectrum to mobile operators would have a significant positive impact, driving innovation, job creation, productivity and competitiveness. Backed by GSMA, the cellular service providers in India are now pitching in for 700 Mhz for allotting digital dividend. The 700MHz frequency band is the frequency range between 698MHz-806MHz. The UHF IV and V bands available with Doordarshan have not been fully used, and this can be vacated and made available to the operators.

Interestingly, why the industry is eyeing the 700MHz is because the band has a high propagation characteristic which helps in longer distance communication. This will reduce the number of base stations, thus lowering the cost of implementation and maintenance.

TRAI is planning to float a consultation paper on Long Term Evolution. Industry is hopeful that by 2014 LTE will be a commercial reality. COAI has recommended 700MHz as a harmonious and cost-effective spectrum band for LTE. Also this band is critical as it is 70% cheaper to provide broadband coverage using UHF spectrum than with 2100 MHz spectrum widely used for mobile broadband today.

It is estimated that the number of transmission towers will reduce from 1460 to about 600 once the analog switches to digital completely. Moreover, over using this low frequency spectrum will also help operators to provide dependable mobile broadband services in building thus meeting the high expectations of consumers who are getting accustomed to ubiquitous mobile voice coverage and always on Internet access.

All said and done, the big question is that if India is prepared for a switch off the way the US did recently when it moved to digital TV completely. The digital television broadcasting will demand the users to either opt for set-top-boxes to be used with their old analog television set or buy a new digital television set.

The experts suggest India does not require to move on to digital in one go. It is possible that both systems stay and migration happens gradually.

What needs to be done is to address the need for sparing the spectrum for mobile usage, the government will have to work out on a band that supports future technologies and has social and economical benefits to country. The industry has suggested that route to digital dividend is 700 Mhz. DoT has suggested a 2017 deadline for the digital switiching a date by when several countries would have commevcially deployed LTE.

If India does not want to miss the bus as it did for 3G, it must act now. The government should start working on vacating the spectrum and explore the option of gradual migration to digital TV.

heenaj@cybermedia.co.in