CHENNAI: Tech giants Samsung, Qualcomm, Nokia, and others are opposing India’s proposed technology to bring live TV broadcasts on smartphones. According to a report, the companies in a letter to the Ministry of Electronic and Information Technology said the move will increase the expenditure on devices by $30. “We do not find any merit in progressing discussion on the adoption of this,” said the letter dated October 17.
The government is planning to mandate equipping smartphones with hardware to receive live television signals without the requirement for cellular networks, the technology is prevalent in North America. Called ATSC 3.0 technology, it allows precise geo-locating of TV signals and provides high picture quality. The companies are of the view that their devices are not equipped to work with ATSC 3.0, and any efforts to add that compatibility will raise the cost of each device by USD 30 as more components need to be added.
The letter, jointly sent by Samsung, Qualcomm, Ericsson, and Nokia to the ministry also mentioned that direct-to-mobile broadcasting can also degrade the battery performance of devices and cellular reception. Meanwhile, the proposal is still under deliberation and could be changed, and there is no fixed timeline for implementation, according to a source with direct knowledge.
For India’s government, the live TV broadcast features are a way to offload the congestion on telecom networks due to higher video consumption. Recently, the government asked mobile makers to make phones compatible with a home-grown navigation system and another proposal to mandate security testing for handsets.