NEW DELHI: Mobile phone or tablet users will be able to experience live telecast on personal devices without internet connection from next year as D2M (Direct- to-mobile) technology will be available for commercial usage.
According to Abhay Karandikar, secretary of the Department of Science and Technology (DST), the technology is at a mature stage, and after doing citywise trials, the technology can be launched for the general public. D2M will enable users to watch live TV on personal devices such as phones, tablets and vehicle devices without the need for cellular networks.
“Technology is mature and available. However, some lab trials are being done. Now we have to do city-wise lab trials. So its potential can be demonstrated… In a year or so, we can launch this technology (for the general public) with the indigenously developed system,” Karandikar said.
The government believes that the technology will reduce the data traffic from the telecom operators as the majority of its users consume data to watch videos.
For consumer wise, a fraction of the Indian population still uses a low-end smartphone.
However, both telecom operators and smartphone manufacturers have raised concerns over the technology. Cellular Operator Association of India (COAI), which has members including Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea and Reliance Jio, is not in favour of this technology.
The industry body, in a statement said the draft policy document for D2M network requires re-evaluation on the aspects of level playing field, spectrum allocation, network integration, and regulatory and cost arbitrage in favour of the proposed PPP model and against the TSPs.