Mumbai: FICCI Frames 2023 is in its 23rd year. This year the FICCI FRAMES has its first Women Chairperson in Jyoti Deshpande.
The day is filled with interesting topics and conversations around the Media & Entertainment sector.
Tata Play MD & CEO Harit Nagpal asked,” Should regulation and levies be dependent on technology used, instead of product delivered? Is there a roadmap that we have to bring it in a level playing field across technologies which are delivering a similar product?”
Terming it as an important and interesting question, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India chairman Dr PD Vaghela said, “Licensing is there for the dth operators, MSOs and LCO registration is there. Of course for the other kind of mediums, there is no licensing. I don’t know why there is no license fee for MSOs and LCO. That 8 per cent licensing for the dth operators, and very surprisingly there is no licensing for it. I think we’ll be handling this. We have done a lot of research on this. Very startling facts have come to our notice.”
He further added, “Under TRAI Act, we have limited mandate. We can regulate only those service providers, to whom the government is giving licenses. To OTT, the license is not being given. I don’t have the mandate. We’ll see whether we should enter into this area and issue a consultation paper and make a recommendation to the govt. The way technology is changing, the way new players are coming, one simple way would be providing a level playing field in the form of a simple regime, whether it is in regard to licensing or license fee. One thing that we should be very clear about is, should we go for regulations for the new players. I generally would not like to see that new players are regulated or brought under licensing. It’s rather that the present players can be given some sort of relief. That should be our strategy, instead of unnecessarily burdening the new players.”
Concluding the discussion, Vaghela stated that TRAI welcomes all kinds of suggestions because in the end whatever recommendations are made is based on the inputs that the regulatory authority receives.
