Centre for Internet and Society

Fixed Line Telephones

Jürgen Kock — 2013-03-15T05:33:32Z

This module discusses the features and the various stages of the development of fixed line telephones, its early history, the basic principle of a fixed line telephone system, plain old telephone service, digital telephones, cordless phones to today's features of fixed line telephones.

Early History

The telephone is one of the ground-breaking inventions of the 19th century. More than 150 years have passed since Alexander Graham Bell was awarded the patent for the first electric telephone in 1876. Other pioneers worth mentioning are Johann P. Reiss, Antonio S. G. Meucci and Elisha Gray who all laid the foundation of what is even in today’s age of emails and internet one of the most important forms of communication.

Basic Principle of a Fixed Line Telephone System

The landline or fixed line telephone system basically consists of two end points and a transmission medium. The endpoints are the telephone sets and the transmission medium the telephone line. In a telephone set (also just called phone) sound waves are converted via a microphone into electric waves, which are transmitted over a pair of twisted wires to the far end phone. Here the reverse happens. The electric waves are converted back into sound waves with the help of a speaker.

The first telephone consisted of a metal diaphragm, a bar magnet with a coil around it. The voice or audio waves on the sender side caused vibrations on the diaphragm, which changed the magnetic flow, inducing an electric signal in the coil. These signals were transmitted over an attached wire to the receiver side, where the same elements were used for the inverse process. The electric signal changed the magnetic flow, which caused vibrations on the diaphragm. These vibrations let to acoustic waves.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Actor_portraying_Alexander_Graham_Bell_in_an_AT%26T_promotional_film_%281926%29.jpg
The above image is under "public domain".

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The above image is under "public domain".

Ringer or Bell

Beside the transmission of voices or sounds, the phones also need a system to alert the user at the far end. This is why a phone has a ringer or bell.

Switch Hook

The telephone operates in two modes: on-hook and off-hook. When the phone is on-hook it reacts to alternating currents coming from the line, indication that the phone should ring. The user goes off-hook when he wants to initiate a call or to answer a call.

Switchboard

Though today there are solutions for multiparty telephone conferences, telephones are for point to point communication. To avoid having a direct wire to all possible contacts, the switch board was invented. At the beginning this was operated manually. If someone wanted to make an outgoing call, he alerted the operator of a switchboard and the operator connected the user to the desired destination.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Switchboard_Staff,_1979.jpg
The above image is under "public domain".

Remark: Picture needs to be exchanged with a license free photo The fast success of the telephone system and growing number of users made it necessary to find an automated process to establish connections.

The fast success of the telephone system and growing number of users made it necessary to find an automated process to establish connections.

Self-Dialing

To allow subscribers to initiate telephone connections on their own, Almon Strowger started the development of an automatic telephone exchange, which got patented in 1891. Subsequently the finger-wheel was invented for dialing. The number of wires from the exchange to the subscriber was reduced to two. Siemens & Halske won in 1913 the patent for a number switch, which was the basis for the so called pulse dialing, a procedure which is still supported by today’s telephone networks.

http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:WAC_telephone_operators_operate_the_Victory_switchboard_during_the_Potsdam_Conference_in_their_headquarters_in..._-_NARA_-_199007.jpg
The above image is under "public domain".

However, the most common dialing system used by analogue phones today is called Dual Tone Multi Frequency (DTMF), introduced by Bell Telephone Laboratories in 1955. Everyone knows DTMF from push-button phones, where each number button, when pressed, generates a different tone. Actually, these tones are a mixture of two pure sine waves or sounds. So the name dual tone comes from the combination of two pure tones. To generate different sounds for all digits, multiple frequencies or pure sine waves are needed.

Plain Old Telephone Service - POTS

The term POTS came up, when innovations like the digitization of telephone network evolved. It still describes the technology, which more or less exists from the early days of telephony and includes:

A standard compliant analog telephone interface (the 2 wire telephone line)
Bi-directional full duplex speech channels, which means that users can talk and listen at the same time. Walkie-Talkies for example are only half duplex. Users can only talk or listen at a time.
Transmission of the limited frequency range of 300 to 3400 Hz which is suitable for the human voice.
Call progress tones like, dial tone, ringing signal, busy tone, etc.
Subscriber (self) dialing
Operator services such as directory assistance or conference calling assistance

Digital Telephones – ISDN

In the 1970s the standardization body “Comité Consultatif International Téléphonique et Télégraphique” (CCITT), the predecessor of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), started working on technical specifications for a digital telecommunication network. In 1980 the first standards were released for the so called Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN).

The main difference to analog connections is the digital transmission of signals between the telephones. Audio signals are transformed into digital information and then transmitted over the telephone line. This improved the speech quality as the impact of noise is reduced. With ISDN a more efficient usage of the telephone lines was achieved, allowing a user to have two simultaneous connections over the same line. In addition, a number of services (telephone, fax, data services), which required earlier separate lines or even networks could be combined. One disadvantage compared to analog phones is the need of a network terminator (NTBA – Network Terminator Basic Access). This network terminator is not power feed by the power coming from the telephone line. It needs its own power connector.

For more information about the difference between analogue and digital technology please refer to Module 2.4.2 Digitization.

Cordless Phones – DECT

In the late 1960s the cordless telephone was invented. Only in the 1980s they became more popular. A cordless portable phone replaces the handset cord with a wireless radio connection. A base station is connected to the fixed telephone line. One or more handsets communicate with the base station over a limited range of usually less than 50 meters indoor or below 300m outdoor.

DECT (Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications) defined by ETSI in EN 300 175 is a recognized standard for cordless phones.

Today’s Features of Fixed Line Telephones

While the basic principle of telephone calls hasn’t changed too much over the years, there is a range of features which make telephony more convenient.

Caller ID	There are several features to display or suppress the telephone numbers of the calling and called party.
Call Forwarding or Call Diversion	This allows a user to forward calls to another telephone number. This can apply to all calls or only when the subscriber is busy or doesn’t answer a call.
Call Waiting and Call Hold	When a user is having an active call, he gets an indication when someone else calls. He can put the active call on hold and switch to the other call.
Speed Dial	Many telephone sets allow the user to store frequently dialed numbers and assign a short code.
Screening Features	Screening features are used to allow or block calls to or from certain numbers.
Voice Mail	Allows to record voice messages from callers

Next Innovations for Fixed Line Telephones

The booming internet causes a threat to the traditional telephone connections. Data and voice networks will converge. Speech connections will just be one of many services transported over IP.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/fixed-line-telephones

Broadband Policy, 2004

snehashish — 2013-03-15T05:47:53Z

The Broadband Policy, 2004 (“Policy”) was laid down by the Government of India in order to realize the potential of broadband services. It aimed at enhancing the quality of life by implementation of tele-education, tele-medicine, e-governance, entertainment and also to generate employment through high speed access to information and web-based communication.

Need for the Policy

Prior to the implementation of the Policy, broadband penetration was significantly low as compared to the other Asian countries. At the time of the implementation of the Policy the penetration of broadband, internet and personal computers were at 0.02 per cent, 0.4 per cent and 0.8 per cent respectively. There was not uniform standard for broadband speed and connectivity. Internet access was available at various speeds varying from 64 kilo bits per second to 128 kilo bits per second.

Broadband Connectivity

Under the Policy broadband connectivity is defined as:

An always-on data connection that is able to support interactive services including Internet access and has the capability of the minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second (kbps) to an individual subscriber from the Point Of Presence (POP) of the service provider intending to provide Broadband service where multiple such individual Broadband connections are aggregated and the subscriber is able to access these interactive services including the Internet through this POP. The interactive services will exclude any services for which a separate licence is specifically required, for example, real-time voice transmission, except to the extent that it is presently permitted under ISP licence with Internet Telephony.[1]

The key characteristics of broadband connectivity are

Always on data connection
Ability to support interactive services including internet access
Minimum download speed of 256 kilo bits per second
Does not include any services for which the internet service provider to procure separate licence such as real time voice transmission.

Targets of the Broadband Policy, 2004

The Policy had the following targets:

Year Ending	Internet Subscribers	Broadband Subscribers
2005	6 million	3 million
2007	18 million	9 million
2010	40 million	20 million

Technology Options for Broadband Services

The Policy envisioned the following technology options for better access to internet and broadband

Optical Fibre Technologies

Digital Subscriber Lines (DSL) on copper loop

Cable TV network

Satellite Media

Terrestrial Wireless and

Other Future Technologies

The Policy emphasized on the implementation of broadband services through the copper loop. It also mentioned that Mahanagar Telecom Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) would aggressively use their already existing broadband infrastructure to provide broadband services. It also indicated that the private internet service provider will enter into commercial agreements with the MTNL and BSNL to utilize their infrastructure to provide internet services.

Cable networks reached more people than copper telephone connections and therefore, the Policy envisaged that the cable networks can be utilized to provide broadband connections. The Policy also mentioned its intention to use very small aperture terminals (VSAT) and direct-to-home (DTH) for increasing broadband penetration as such technologies can be implemented in remote areas.

The Policy also mentioned that the Government had de-licensed 2.40-2.4835 GHz bands for low power indoor use (including Wi-Fi technologies based on the IEEE 802.11b and 802.11g standards).[2]

Quality of Service

The Policy recognized that the qualities of service parameters were of great importance and it requested Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to prescribe quality of service parameters for broadband service.

Other Mandates of Policy

The issues regarding cost of bandwidth for providing internet and broadband should be resolved Government and TRAI at the earliest.

The National Internet Exchange of India was set up by the Department of Information Technology to ensure that internet traffic originating from and destined for India should be routed within India.

Role of Other Agencies: Growth of broadband and internet services is dependent upon personal computers and content and application available on the internet. Therefore, it is necessary that other departments such as State Electricity Boards and the Department of Information Technology and other relevant authorities should also contribute to spreading broadband services in the rural areas.

Fiscal Issues: The Policy gives a high priority to indigenous manufacture of broadband related equipments. The Government to should endeavour to, make available, broadband and associated equipments at a low price.

The Policy aimed at providing broadband (minimum speed of 256 kbps) to 20 million subscribers. However, only 13 million subscribers have broadband connectivity as in May 2012.

[1].Broadband connectivity, available at http://www.dot.gov.in/ntp/broadbandpolicy2004.htm
[2]. Vikram Raghavan, Communications Laws in India (Legal Aspects of Telecom, Broadcasting and Cable Services), LexisNexis Butterworths, 2007, pp. 480-81

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/broadband-policy-2004

New Telecom Policy, 1999

snehashish — 2013-03-15T05:56:53Z

The New Telecom Policy, 1999 was formulated on the basis of the report of Group on Telecommunication. The Government, constituted a high level Group on Telecommunication (GoT) to review the existing telecom policy i.e., the National Telecom Policy, 1994. The main reason for a new telecom policy was that the goals of the National Telecom policy, 1994 were not achieved within the stipulated time period and on the other hand there was immense growth in information and communication technology, this led to the need for a change in the telecom policy.

Objectives

The objectives of the New Telecom Policy, 1999 were:

Access to affordable and effective means of telecommunication for all citizens. Strike a balance between universal services to all uncovered areas and high level services.
Encourage development of telecommunication facilities in remote, hilly and tribal areas of the country.
Formation of a modern and efficient telecommunication system based on convergence of IT, media, telecom and consumer electronics to propel India into becoming an IT superpower.
To alter PCO’s, wherever justified into Public Tele-info Centres having multimedia capability like ISDN services, remote database access, government and community information systems etc.
Strive to transform in a time bound manner a competitive telecommunication system in both rural and urban areas.
Achieve efficiency and transparency in spectrum management. Protect the defence & security interests of the country. Enable Indian Telecom Companies to become truly global players.
Encourage research and development efforts in the country.

Targets of the New Telecom Policy, 1999

Access to telephone on demand by the year 2002 and sustain it thereafter to achieve a tele density of 7 by the year 2005 and 15 by the year 2015.
Encourage development of affordable telecommunication system in rural areas and making rural communication mandatory for all fixed service providers
Provide reliable transmission media in all rural areas and increase the rural tele-density from the current level of 0.4 to 4.0 in 2010.
Make available internet access to all district headquarters by the year 2000.
Access to high speed internet and multimedia capabilities using ISDN to all towns with a population over 2 lakh by the year 2002.

New Category of Service Providers

The New Telecom Policy, 1999 strived to create an environment which would enable a continued attraction of investment in the telecom sector and also enhance creation of technological infrastructure by leveraging technological development. Categorisation of services as per the National Telecom Policy, 1999:

Cellular Mobile Service Providers (CMSPs),
Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) and Cable Service Providers, collectively referred as ‘Access Providers’;
Radio Paging Service Providers;
Public Mobile Radio Trunking Service Providers;
National Long Distance Operators;
International Long Distance Operators;
Other Service Providers;
Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) Service Providers;
V-SAT based Service Providers

Restructuring of the Department of Telecommunication (DoT)

Before the 1999 Policy, licensing, policy making and the service provision functions were under the purview of DoT. The Policy indicated that the Government will separate the policy and licensing functions of the DoT from the service provisioning function of it. It also stated that corporatization of DoT will take place by the year 2001 after keeping in mind the interest of all the stakeholders.

It also envisaged that all the future relationships between DoT and MTNL and BSNL will be based upon best commercial principles.

Spectrum Management

The Policy noted that with the introduction of new technologies into the market the demand for spectrum has increased. It also recognized the need for utilizing spectrum efficiently, economically, rationally and optimally. Under the Policy, the Government intended to revise the National Frequency Allocation Plan. The allocation plan would be in conformity with the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) regulations.

Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)

Under the Policy the Policy the Government planned to achieve certain targets to provide basic telecom services at an affordable and reasonable price. The objectives were:

Provide voice and low speed data service to the balance 2.9 lakh uncovered villages in the country by the year 2002
Achieve Internet access to all district head quarters by the year 2000
Achieve telephone on demand in urban and rural areas by 2002

The resources and funding for the USOF will be realised from a universal access levy which would be a percentage of the revenue earned by the service providers under the different licences. This will be fixed in consultation with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Role of Regulator

The Policy clarified the role of TRAI in the telecom sector. This was done with regard to the problem where the DoT refused to accept the TRAI’s jurisdiction over some legal questions. The Policy expressly mentions that TRAI is envisioned to be an independent regulator with comprehensive powers. It stated that TRAI has the authority to hear disputes regarding telecommunication and also issue directives to the Government.

The Policy also clarified that the Government will invariably take into consideration TRAI’s recommendation with respect to licensing issues. It also completely ruled out any possibility of delegation of the Government’s licensing and policy making powers as they are essential sovereign functions that cannot be delegated. The Policy also specified regulatory and advisory assignments for TRAI. It would be responsible for formulating regulatory details, licensing conditions and various guidelines with respect to different classes of service providers.

Other Mandates of the Policy

The Policy addresses the issue of standardization. In order to establish integrated telecommunication network and common standards with respect to telecom equipment and services, Telecommunication Engineering Centre will set standards.

The Policy promotes the indigenous manufacturing of telecom equipment for domestic use as well as for export. The Policy also emphasizes on development and training of human resources for all fields related to telecommunications. It also recognizes telecommunication as the prerequisite to development of other technologies. It also ensures that the telecom industry should adequately invest in research and development.

Amendment to the New Telecom Policy, 1999

On 11th November, 2003, an addendum was added to the New Telecom Policy, 1999. The addendum introduced the Unified Licence for telecommunication services which would allow the licensees to provide all telecommunication/ telegraph services covering various geographical areas using any technology.

It also introduced a licence for Unified Access (Basic and Cellular) services which would a licensee to provide basic and/or cellular services using any technology in the define service area.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/new-telecom-policy-1999

National Telecom Policy, 2012

snehashish — 2013-03-15T06:00:26Z

The National Telecom Policy, 2012 was approved by the Union Cabinet on May 31, 2012.

The vision of the policy is, “to provide secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development”. The policy also aims at recognizing telecom as infrastructure in order to realize the potential of ICT for development.

The main components of the policy are:

Broadband Rural Telephony and Universal Service Obligation Fund
R&D, Manufacturing and Standardization of Telecommunication Equipment
Licensing, Convergence and Value Added Services
Spectrum Management
Quality of Service and Protection of Consumer Interest
Security

Vision of the National Telecom Policy, 2012

The vision of the Policy is, “to provide secure, reliable, affordable and high quality converged telecommunication services anytime, anywhere for an accelerated inclusive socio-economic development”. The vision is to transform the country into an empowered and inclusive knowledge based society through telecommunication as the platform. Information and access to information is a major part of any development scheme, better communication systems can help in increasing awareness and knowledge about various issues in the society.

Background

The growth of telecommunication in rural areas has been slow, with only 34 per cent of the total connections. There is an urgent need to bridge this digital divide and communication gap by providing better and advanced telecommunication services in the rural and remote areas. The current National Telecom Policy, 2012 also aims at an investor friendly policy. It also seeks to generate employment in various telecom sectors through this policy. One of the salient features of the policy is to make available broadband on demand and use of telecom infrastructure which in turn would enable businesses in urban as well as rural areas to engage in the web-economy and e-commerce for inclusive development.

Mobile Devices as an Instrument of Social Empowerment (e-Governance, m-Governance)

The Policy endeavours at making mobile devices as tools for social empowerment. This will be achieved through enabling participation of citizens in e-governance and m-governance projects in key sectors such as health, education, skill development, employment, governance and banking on mobile devices. Cloud-computing will be also used to enable social networking and participative e-governance. One Nation-Full Mobile Number Portability to be implemented and work towards One Nation Free Roaming.

Mobile devices are not only to be used for communication but also to be used as devices to authenticate proof of identity and facilitate secure financial transactions, multilingual services and other capabilities which will assist in increasing the literacy rate in the country.

Strategies

Broadband Rural Telephony and Universal Service Obligation Fund
The Policy dictates for a robust and secure telecommunication service in the rural and remote areas. In order to bridge the digital divide the Policy also mandates affordable and high quality broadband connectivity and telecom service throughout the nation. This will be achieved through combination of technologies viz., optical fibre, wireless, VSAT and others. Optical fibre networks to be laid down to the village panchayats, using USOF funding. It also aims at high speed broadband access to all the village panchayats by 2014 and access to all villages and habitation by 2020. It also aims at increasing the rural tele-density from 29 to 70 by 2012 and 100 by 2020. With high quality voice, data and multimedia and broadcasting services on converged networks,[1] it is expected to render better service to the user.

The policies formulated with respect to access to broadband are:

Develop an “eco-system for broadband” and also work towards a “right to broadband”. It also endeavours to recognize telecom and broadband service a basic necessity in the field of education and health.
Provide affordable and reliable broadband on demand by 2015, 175 million broadband connections by 2017; 600 million by 2020 at a minimum speed of 2 Mbps download speed and also to make available higher speeds of at least 100 Mbps on demand.
Revise the existing broadband download speed from 256 Kbps to 512 Kbps and 2 Mbps by 2015 and speed up to at least 100 Mbps thereafter. The policy also encourages use of FTTH (fibre to the home) to create a “always connected” society.
Set up an agency, to co-ordinate with different government departments in order to efficiently lay optical fibre cables across the nation and help in rapid expansion of broadband services in the country.
Use broadband along with other government agencies for the implementation of e-governance, e-panchayats MNREGA, NKN, AADHAR, AAKASH tablet. It will also help in facilitating secure financial transactions online.
Stimulate interest with respect to utility of broadband by promoting regional and local content with the help of the Department of Information Technology. This will help in generating investment for All-Internet Protocol (IP) Networks including Next Generation Networks (NGN)

R&D, Manufacturing and Standardization of Telecommunication Equipment

The Policy directives for encouraging R&D are:

Encourage indigenous manufacturing and R&D, entrepreneurship and IPR creation in the field of telecom products and service under the 12th 5 year plan.
Preference to be given to domestically produced telecom products in case of those telecom products which have security implication for the country or which will be put to government use. Moreover, the policy in order to promote indigenous R&D in telecommunication technology will provide for fiscal and financial incentive will be granted for indigenous R&D.
Focus on production and R&D of telecom equipment as well as address the issues of security and strategic concerns. It also aims to focus on a green policy and use of renewable sources of energy in the telecom sector.
Set up a council with experts from sectors of the telecom industry including telecom service providers, telecom manufacturing industry, government, academia and R&D institutions. The functions of the Council would be to (a) forecast on technology change and product development; (b) update the national programme for technology/product development; (c) to act as a nodal group to ensure implementation of the recommendations made for R&D and IPR creation.
Promote collaboration between telecom service providers, manufacturers, R&D centres, academia and other stakeholders for development and introduction of new products in the market which are more suitable for Indian environment and security needs.
Assist entrepreneurs by creating funds and promoting indigenous manufacturing, R&D and intellectual property creation.

The Policy also addresses issues with regards to standards in the telecom sector. The main policy directives for standardization of telecom in India are:

Set up new standards to meet national requirements and participate in the standard making process carried out by international standardization organizations and also contribute in formulation of global standards.
Implement platform neutral services in e-governance and m-governance in the sector of health, education and agriculture. The Policy objective is also to encourage development of mobile phone based on open platform standards.
Mandate to use common platform for interconnection of various networks for non-discriminatory and non-exclusive access.
Create a road-map for aligning technology, demand, standards and regulations for the purpose of promoting competition in the market.
Set up a Telecommunication Standard Development Organisation (TSDO) as an autonomous body to build consensus about standards to meet national requirements including security requirements. The Organisation will also oversee participation of government, industry, R&D centres, service providers and academia in such setting of standards.

In order to promote domestic manufacture of telecom equipments, the Policy seeks to support electronic design and manufacturing clusters for design, development and manufacture of telecommunication equipment. The Policy aims to provide incentive for export of telecom equipment and also give fiscal incentives for domestic manufacturing of telecom equipments under the Modified Special Incentive Package Scheme (M-SIPS). It will also lay down mechanism for testing and certification with respect to conformance, performance, interoperability, health, safety, security, EMF/EMI/EMC (electromagnetic compatibility).

Licensing, Convergence and Value Added Services

The policy regarding licensing:

Simplify the licensing framework in order to facilitate converged high quality services.
Strengthen institutional and legal and regulatory framework and to bring more transparency and efficiency in decision making process and also implement web-based e-governance solution for online application, processing and issuance of licence by Department of Telecommunication.
Convergence of technology, for the purpose of enabling a single network for voice data and video, internet telephony (VoIP), value added services and broadcasting services.
Move towards convergence between telecom, broadcast, IT service, networks, platforms, technologies. It is also imperative to overcome hurdles such as “existing segregation of licensing, registration and regulatory mechanisms in these areas to enhance affordability, increase access, delivery of multiple services and reduce cost.”
Use of fixed mobile convergence in order to optimize the delivery of services to the consumers irrespective of the device or the location.
Support from USOF for telecom services, including converged communication services for providing services in commercially unviable rural and remote areas.

Spectrum Management

The Policy aims at creating a framework for increasing the availability of spectrum for the purpose of telecom services. It also seeks to implement a transparent process for allocation of spectrum as well as ensure availability of spectrum. The Policy wishes to make available additional 300 MHz for IMT (4G) services by 2013 and another 200 MHz by 2020.

The government will also promote efficient use of spectrum and will conduct periodical spectrum usage audit. It will also de-licence un-used and additional frequency bands for public use. It will also conduct periodic audit of spectrum use, to ensure optimum use of spectrum.

The policy directives for spectrum management are:

Liberalise spectrum for the purpose of enabling use of spectrum for providing any service through any technological medium. Such liberalisation policy will also allow spectrum pooling, sharing, and later trading to effect optimum use of spectrum. This will be done through appropriate regulatory framework.
Re-farm spectrum to allot alternate frequency bands to service providers and also to make available spectrum for the introduction of new technologies in the telecom market.
Devise a roadmap for the purpose of making available additional spectrum in the next five years. It also seeks to make available globally harmonised IMT spectrum in 450 MHz, 700 MHz, 1800 MHz, 1910 MHz, 2.1 GHz, 2.3 GHz, 2.5 GHz, 3.5 GHz bands and other bands to be identified by ITU for commercial mobile services.
Provide small chunks of frequency bands for the purpose of research and development indigenous technologies and products.
Optimize spectrum allocation by reviewing the existing geographical unit of allocation of spectrum.
Promote use of white spaces with low power devices, without causing harmful interference to the licensed applications in specific frequency bands by deployment of Software Defined Radios (SDRs), Cognitive Radios (CRs), etc.
Establish Institute of Advanced Radio Spectrum Engineering and Management Studies (IARSEMS) which will carry out policy research in radio spectrum engineering, management/radio monitoring and related aspects.

Quality of Service and Protection of Consumer Interest

The main policy mandate is to further empower TRAI (independent regulator) for the purpose of ensuring that the prescribed performance standards and quality of service parameters are complied with, by the service provides and also provide support to the sector regulator in creating awareness about services, tariff and quality of service. It also seeks to balance the interests of the consumer and the service provider.

The Policy objectives with respect to protection of consumer interests:

Informed consent;
Transparency;
Accountability in quality of service, tariff, usage and;
Strengthen grievance redressal mechanisms

The strategies adopted for ensuring quality of service and protections of consumer interest are:

Formulate code of practices of sales and marketing communication.

Mandate web-based disclosure of area coverage by the telecom service providers.

Establish National Mobile Property Registry to deal with issues of security, theft and other concerns such a reprogramming of mobile handsets.

Undertake legislative measure to include dispute between telecom consumers and service providers within the jurisdiction of consumer forums.

Security

The objective of the policy is to formulate a strategy to address the concerns related to communication security and network security. AADHAR based authentication framework would be crucial in providing service such as m-payment.

The strategy adopted to implement security measures are:

Telecom service providers must take adequate measures; to ensure security of the communication send and received through their networks. The service provider will adopt contemporary network security standards

Telecom service providers must provide communication assistance to law enforcement agencies. Telecom service providers must assist law enforcement agencies within legal framework and also keeping in view the individual privacy and also following international practices to the extent possible for fulfilling national security needs.

Regulatory measures to ensure that safe to connect devices are inducted on to the network. To build national capacity around security standards, security testing, and interception and monitoring capabilities.

[1].Multiple communication service on a single network; See, http://bit.ly/zEA4wa

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/national-telecom-policy-2012

Indian Telegraph Act, 1885

snehashish — 2013-03-15T06:13:26Z

The main object of the Telegraph Act was to give power to the Government to install telegraph lines on private as well as public property.

The Telegraph Act since then gone through numerous amendments in order to accommodate new communication technologies. This is evident from the current definition of ‘telegraph’ under Telegraph Act. It defines ‘telegraph’ as:“

"any appliance, instrument, material or apparatus used or capable of use for transmission or reception of signs, signals, writing, images and sounds or intelligence of any nature by wire, visual or other electro-magnetic emissions, Radio waves or Hertzian waves, galvanic, electric or magnetic means.

Explanation - "Radio waves" or "Hertzian waves" means electro-magnetic waves of frequencies lower than 3,000 giga-cycles per second propagated in space without artificial guide."

Framework of the Act

The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (Telegraph Act) contains six parts. Part I deals with definitions of key words used in the Telegraph Act. Part II grants government the exclusive privilege with respect to telegraph. Part II also gives power to the issue licence to private operators to offer telegraph services. Part IIA was inserted in the Telegraph Act by the Indian Telegraph (Amendment) Act, 2003. It deals with setting up of the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for the purpose of meeting universal service obligation. (For further details see the Module on USOF). Part III deals with procedures and guidelines to be followed; for installing and maintaining communication equipments. It also lays down guidelines for setting up communication devices in private property and also the procedure for resolution of any dispute which may arise between the service provider and the owner of the private property. Part IV lays down the offences and penalties with respect to unauthorized use of communication or telegraph services. Part V deals with other supplementary provisions.

Exclusive Privilege of the Government with respect to Telegraphs

Section 4 of the Act deals with exclusive privilege of the government to establish, maintain and use telegraphs. It also provides for the government to grant licence to establish, maintain or work a telegraph. The government may grant such licence on certain conditions and for a licence fee.

Section 5 of the Telegraph Act is commonly known as the wire-tapping clause. It gives power to the government to take possession of any licensed telegraphs in case of a public emergency or in the interest of public safety. It can also order interception of communication in the interests of the sovereignty and integrity of India, the security of the state, friendly relation with foreign states or public order or for preventing incitement to the commission of an offence. However, the government has to follow the procedure established by law for issuing such order.

The procedures and guidelines for lawful interception was laid down in the case of People’s Union for Civil Liberties v. Union of India.[1] In this case the Supreme Court of India ruled that telephone tapping is a serious invasion upon an individual’s privacy. However, lawful interception can be carried out under certain circumstances mentioned in the wiretapping provision.[2] This kind of law interception has to be carried in conformity with certain guidelines which will act as a check on indiscriminate wire-tapping by the law enforcement agencies. It also directed the government to make rules and procedures for carrying out lawful interception of communication. In addition to that it also laid down the basic guidelines for such interception. The main guidelines are:

An order for law interception can only be made by the Home Secretary to the Government of India and home secretaries of state governments. In urgent situations the power may be delegated to an officer of the Home Department of Government of India and state governments and such officer should not be below the rank of joint secretary.
A copy of the order has to be sent to the review committee within one week of issuance of such order.
The authority which issues the order should also record the following information:
- the intercepted communications;
- the extent to which the material is disclosed;
- the number of persons and their identity to whom any of the material is disclosed;
- the extent to which the material is copied; and
- the number of copies made of any of the materials.
The intercepted material can be used only for purposes mentioned under the wire-tapping clause.
The interception will be valid for two month unless it is renewed. However, the total period of interception should not exceed six months.

The government also has the power to notify rates for transmission of messages to countries outside India. While notifying such rates the government must take into consideration: (i) the rates which are applicable at the time; (ii) foreign exchange rates at the time; (iii) rates applicable for transmission of message with India, at the time and (iv) such other circumstance that the Central Government may think fit to be considered.

Section 7 of the Telegraph Act vests with the government the power to make rules for the conduct of telegraphs.

The government has the power to make rule with regard to following issues:

Rates and other conditions and restrictions subject to which messages will be transmitted within India.

Precautions to be taken to prevent improper interception or disclosure of message

Conduct regarding telegram

Conduct and charges regarding use of telegraph lines[3]

Central Government may impose fine if there is any breach of rules made by it under the Telegraph Act. It may also impose fine upon licensees’ if they are found to be in violation of the rules laid down by the Central Government under the Telegraph Act. The Central Government may also revoke any licence granted under the Telegraph Act, in case of breach of any condition or default of payment with respect to the licence.

Section 9 deals with government liability with respect to loss or damage. The government does not take any responsibility for any loss or damage caused by telegraph officer fails in performing his duties. However, such telegraph officer can be held liable if acts negligently, maliciously or fraudulently.

Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF)

USOF is established under Section 9A of the Act. The USOF is under the control of the Central Government under the Act. Section 9D deals with administration and utilisation of such funds. (For further details please refer to the module on USOF).

Power of the Government to place telegraph lines and posts

The telegraph authority has to follow certain procedure for taking possession of land for installing and maintaining telegraph line and posts. The telegraph authority# under section 10 of the Telegraph Act has the power to place, maintain telegraph line on or under or over any immovable property. The telegraph authority has limited powers with respect to installation of telegraph lines and posts. It can only take possession of land for the purpose of installing and maintaining telegraph lines and posts. The telegraph authority will only have the right to use the property for purposes specific to installation and maintenance of telegraph poles and lines. The telegraph authority while installing communication equipment should try to do minimum damage to the property. It will be liable to pay adequate compensation to all the persons who have a stake in such property. The Telegraph Act also gives power to the telegraph authority to enter on property for the purpose of repairing or removing telegraph lines or posts.

Sections 12-15 are the procedure applicable to take possession of property vested in or under the control of or management of local authorities. The telegraph authority has to take permission and pay any expenses for setting up communication equipment on property under the control of a local authority. The local authority may also ask the telegraph authority to remove any telegraph lines or post if it finds it necessary to do so. Any dispute between telegraph authority and local authority will be decided by an officer appointed by the Central Government.

Sections 16 and 17 are applicable to property other any property owned, controlled or managed by any local authority. Sections 18, 19, 19A and 19B are applicable to all kinds of property. Section 18 deals with procedure for removing trees which are interrupting telegraphic communication. Section 19 deals with lines and posts before the passing of this Act. Section 19A states that any person who has legal right over the property where communication equipment is install in accordance with the procedure under this Act has to give notice to the telegraph authority in writing, if such persons act is likely to interfere with telegraph communication or damage telegraph equipment. Section 19B allows the Central Government to confer certain powers of the telegraph authority upon the licensee.

Part IV: Penalties

Sections 20 to 32 deal with offences and penalties under the Telegraph

Offence	Ingredients of the Offence	Penalty/Fine
S.20: Establishing, maintaining or working unauthorised telegraph	any person: establishes, maintains or works a telegraph within India without proper licence or authorization from the government	In case of wireless telegraph: Imprisonment which may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both Any other case: Fine which may extend up to Rs. 1000 Offences under this section with respect to wireless telegraph is bailable and non-cognizable
S.20A: Breach of condition of licence	If a licensee is held to be in breach of any condition contained in license.	Fine which may extend to Rs. 1000. Further fine of Rs. 500 per week for the duration the licensee is in violation of the licence conditions.
S.21: Using unauthorized telegraph	If any person, knowing or having reason to believe that a telegraph has been established or is maintained or worked in contravention of this Act, transmits or receives any message by such telegraph, or performs any service incidental thereto, or delivers any message for transmission by such telegraph or accepts delivery of any message sent thereby	Fine which may extend to fifty rupees
S.22: Opposing establishment of telegraphs on railway land	If a Railway Company, or an officer of a Railway Company, neglects or refuses to comply with the provision which gives power to the Central Government to establish telegraph on land of Railway Company	Fine which may extend to Rs. 1000 for every day during which the neglect or refusal continues.
S.23: Intrusion into signal-room, trespass in telegraph office or obstruction	If any person without permission of -competent authority, enters the signal-room of a telegraph office of the government, or of a person licensed under this Act, or enters a fenced enclosure round such a telegraph office in contravention of any rule or notice not to do so, or refuses to quit such room or enclosure on being requested to do so by any officer or servant employed therein, or wilfully obstructs or impedes any such officer or servant in the performance of his duty,	Fine which may extend to Rs. 500.
S.24: Unlawfully attempting to learn contents of messages	If any person does any of the acts mentioned in section 23 with the intention of unlawfully learning the contents of any message, or of committing any offence punishable under this Act	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to 1 year in addition to the fine with which he is punishable under section 23 i.e. fine upto Rs. 500
S. 25: Intentionally damaging or tampering with telegraphs	If any person intending to prevent or obstruct the transmission or delivery of any message, or to intercept or to acquaint himself with the contents of any message, or to commit mischief, damages, removes, tampers with or touches any battery, machinery, telegraph line, post or other thing whatever, being part of or used in or about any telegraph or in the working thereof,	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine or with both.
S.25A: Injury to or interference with a telegraph line or post.	If, in any case not provided for by section 25, any person deals with any property and thereby wilfully or negligently damages any telegraph line or post duly placed on such property in accordance with the provisions of this Act Exception: the provisions of this section shall not apply where such damage or interruption is caused by a person dealing with any property in the legal exercise of a right if he has complied with the provisions of section 19A (1).]	Expenses (if any) as may be incurred in making good such damage, and shall also, if the telegraphic communication is by reason of the damage so caused interrupted, be punishable with a fine which may extend to Rs. 1000.
S.26: Telegraph officer or other making away with or altering , or unlawfully intercepting or disclosing, messages, or divulging purport of signals	If any telegraph officer, or any person, who is not a telegraph officer but has official duties at any telegraph office: willfully, conceals, makes away with or alters any message which he has received for transmission or delivery, or willfully, and otherwise than in obedience to an order of the Central Government or of a State Government, or of an officer specially authorized [by the Central or a State Government] to make the order, omits to transmit, or intercepts or detains, any message or any part thereof, or discloses the contents or any part the contents of any message, to any person not entitled to receive the same, or divulges the purport of any telegraphic signal to any person not entitled to become acquainted with the same, Except in pursuance of his official duty or in obedience to the direction of a competent Court does such an act.	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to three years, or with fine, or with both.
S.27: Telegraph officer fraudulently sending messages without payment.	If any telegraph officer transmits by telegraph any message on which the charge prescribed by the Central Government, or by a person licensed under this Act, as the case may be, has not been paid, intending thereby to defraud the Central Government, or that person.	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 years, or with fine, or with both.
S.28: Misconduct	If any telegraph officer, or any person not being a telegraph officer but having official duties connected with any office which is used as a telegraph office is guilty of any act of drunkenness, carelessness of other misconduct whereby the correct transmission or the delivery of any message is impeded or delayed or if telegraph officer loiters or delays in the transmission or delivery of any message.	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to 3 months, or with fine which may extend to Rs. 1000, or with both
S.29A: Penalty	If any person, without due authority, - makes or issues any fake or forged document which is believed to be issued by, or under the authority of, the Director-General of [Posts and Telegraphs], or forged or fake stamp or mark of any Telegraph Office under the Director General of [Posts and Telegraph]	Fine which may extend to Rs. 50
S.30: Retaining a message delivered by mistake	If any person fraudulently retains, or conceals removes holds without any reason any message which ought to have been delivered to some other person, or, being required by a telegraph officer to deliver up any such message, neglects of refuses to do so	Imprisonment for a term which may extend to 2 years, or with fine, or with both.

Section 31 deals with bribery and section 32 states that, “whoever attempts to commit any offence punishable under this Act shall be punished with the punishment herein provided for the offence.

Part V: Supplementary Provisions

Section 33 deals with the power of the State Government to employ additional police force in place where mischief to telegraph is repeatedly committed.

[1].(1997) 1 SCC 318
[2].Section 5(2), Indian Telegraph Act.
[3].Section 3(4), Telegraph Act, 1885 – “telegraph line” means a wire or wires used for the purpose of a telegraph, with any casing, coating, tube or pipe enclosing the same, and any appliances and apparatus connected therewith for the purpose of fixing or insulating the same.
[4].Section 3(6), Telegraph Act.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/indian-telegraph-act

DoT — Its Powers and Responsibilities

snehashish — 2013-03-15T06:24:19Z

The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) works under the aegis of the Ministry of Communications and Information Technology. DoT is headed a secretary, who is a senior member of the Indian Administrative Services. The secretary of the DoT reports to the Union Minister for Communications and Information Technology.

DoT used to provide basic telecommunication services. This function was shifted to BSNL after its formation in October, 2000. Presently, the main powers and responsibilities of the DoT as laid down in the Government of India (Allocation of Business) Rules, 1961 are:

Formulation of policy, allocation of licence and co-ordination with matters relating to telegraphs, telephones, wireless, data, facsimile and telematic services and other like forms of communications.
Co-operation with international bodies on matters related to telecommunication
Promotion of standardization and research and development in the telecom sector.
Promotion of private investment in telecommunication industry
Allocation of spectrum mobile and radio communications.
Administration of laws with respect to any of the matters specified in this list, namely: The Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885); The Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933); and The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997).
Supervision over the functioning of the following organizations: Telecom Commission, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, Telecom Disputes Settlement Appellate Tribunal, Centre for Development of Telematics, Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, ITI Limited, Telecommunication Consultants (India) Limited and Administrative office of the Universal Service Obligation Fund.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/dot-its-powers-and-responsibilities

Government Policy and Guidelines

snehashish — 2013-03-15T06:27:26Z

In this unit Snehashish dwells upon the four main policy guidelines that were formulated by the Government of India.

The above were the four main telecom policies formulated by the government.

One of the main functions of DoT is to issue guidelines with respect to issuing of licence, allocation of spectrum, interconnection, etc. These guidelines operate as additional conditions, laid down by DoT with respect to conduct and functioning of telecom operators. For example, the DoT issued guideline for radiation standards in respect of electromagnetic radiations (EMR) for mobile towers, which came into effect on September 1, 2012.

The DoT has issued numerous guidelines across the years. However, it is important to discuss the DoT guidelines with respect to issuance of telecom service licences.

Basic Telephone Services Licences (BTS)
Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Licence (CMTS)
Unified Access Service Licence (UASL)
National Long Distance (NLD) and
International Long Distance Licence (ILD)

Guidelines on issuing of Basic Telephone Services

DoT issued guideline for issuing of BTS licences in January, 2001. The key features of the guidelines are:

The applicant must be an Indian company. There was no restriction on the number of BTS licensees in a circle. The applicants were also required to have a minimum amount of paid up equity capital. This varied from circle to circle. There was a cap of 49 per cent foreign equity on companies applying for the BTS licence
BTS licences were issued for a period of 20 years on a non-exclusive basis
The licences had to pay an entry fee before the grant of the licence. Consequently, the basic telecom service operators had to pay an annual licence fee based on their annual gross revenue
The basic telecom service operators also had to submit two bank guarantee as an assurance to meet the contractual and roll out obligation under the BTS licence
The Guideline also laid down that the license holders can also provide limited mobility services, by using the spectrum allocated to them for last mile delivery. However, service operators provided limited mobility services had to pay additional 2 per cent fee.
The Guidelines declared that a CMTS licensee can also provide fixed services using GSM networks within their service area. *This was done to satisfy cellular operators who were protesting against permission given to the basic telephone operators to provide limited mobility services.
The basic operators could carry intra-circle long distance traffic. However, the operators had to provide the subscribers, the option to choose their own long distance carriers. For this purpose, BTS licensee could enter into an arrangement with the national long distance licensee.
Basic operators were required to make their own arrangements for the installation of infrastructure, network equipment and, right of way. They were also allowed to enter into agreements related to interconnection with other licensee in other service areas. The terms and conditions of such interconnectivity agreement were subject to TRAI regulations and directions.

Guidelines on issuing of Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Licences

The DoT issued Guidelines for CMTS licences along with guidelines for the issuing of the basic telecom licences. These two sets of guidelines are generally similar to each other but they vary in certain issues.

In the light of the criticism of the previous licensing policy, the DoT guidelines on issuing CMTS licence proposed “informed ascending bidding process”[1] for auctioning of CMTS licence.
The CMTS licence was issued for a period of 20 years on a non-exclusive basis, extendable by 10 years.
The licensee can transfer; assign the licence only with the permission of the DoT, the licensor.
The prospective cellular operator had to submit roll-out plans and financial arrangements with the application.
The licence period was set at 20 years, extendable by another 10 years.
The winning bidder had to pay an entry fee. They also had to pay an annual fee which is a percentage of the annual gross revenue.
The cellular operator also had to pay an additional sum for spectrum.
The cellular operator, were given freedom to use any kind of network equipment as long as they satisfied certain international and domestic standards.
The cellular operators were allowed to enter into any interconnection arrangements subject to TRAI regulations.
The guideline also laid down that cellular operators will fully co-operate with law enforcement and government agencies in providing access to their infrastructure.
The licensees have to make their own arrangement for installing infrastructure and equipment and for right of way.

Guidelines for issuing Unified Access Service Licences

The UASL Guidelines were issued in November, 2003. They were consistent with the TRAI recommendations. Option was given to the existing licensees to continue under their basic telecom and cellular mobile telecom licences or migrate to the new unified access service licence regime. The main highlights of the Guidelines on issuing of UASL were:

Cellular licensees can offer limited mobility service within their short distance coverage areas.
Basic telecom service operators had to pay an entry fee for the UASL which was equal to the entry fee paid by the fourth cellular operator for the specific service area or the entry fee paid by the basic telecom provider in that circle, whichever is higher.
No additional entry fee had to be paid by the cellular mobile service providers.
The basic telecom service operator, who choose not to completely migrate to full mobility regime may pay additional licence fee for providing services in wireless in local loop (WLL). However, such service will be restricted to the short distance charging areas.
There was no additional spectrum allotted to the licensee for migrating to the UASL regime.
The unified access service providers can use any technology without any restrictions.

Additional Entry fee to be paid by the existing Basic Service Operators for migration to Unified Access Service License[2]

S.No.	Name of the operator	Service Area of the basic service operator (BSO)	Date of signing of licence agreements	Entry fee paid by BSO (in crores)	Entry fee paid by 4^th cellular operator(in crores)	Additional entry fee to be paid for migration to UASL(in crores)
1.	Reliance Infocomm Ltd.	Rajasthan	20.7.2001	20	32.25	12.25
		UP(East)	20.7.2001	15	45.25	30.25
		Maharashtra	20.7.2001		189+203.66*
				115	392.66	277.66
		Karnataka	20.7.2001	35	206.83	171.83
		Punjab	20.7.2001	20	151.75	131.75
		Andhra Pradesh	20.7.2001	35	103.01	68.01
		Haryana	20.7.2001	10	21.46	11.46
		Kerala	20.7.2001	20	40.54	20.54
		Uttar Pradesh (West)	20.7.2001	15	30.55	15.55
		West Bengal	20.7.2001		0+78.01*
				25	78.01	53.01
		Madhya Pradesh	20.7.2001	20	17.4501	0
		Bihar	20.7.2001	10
		Himachal Pradesh	20.7.2001	2	1.1	0
		Orissa	20.7.2001	5
		Tamil Nadu	26.9.2001		79+154*
				50	233	183
		Delhi	20.7.2001	50	170.7	120.7
		Andaman & Nicobar **	20.7.2001	1		0
2.	RTL	Gujarat	18.3.1997	179.0859030	109.01	0
3.	Tata Teleservices Ltd.	Gujarat	31.8.2001	40	109.01	69.01
		Karnataka	31.8.2001	35	206.83	171.83
		Andhra Pradesh	4.11.1997	161.47(old)	103.01	0
		Tamil Nadu	31.8.2001		79+154*
				50	233	183
		Delhi	31.8.2001	50	170.7	120.7
4.	TTL (Mah.) Ltd.	Maharashtra	31.8.2001		189+203.66*	-
5.	Bharti Telenet Ltd.	Karnataka	29.10.2001	35	206.83	171.83
		Madhya Pradesh	28.2.1997	35.33 (old)	17.4501	0
		Tamil Nadu	29.10.2001	50	79+154*
					233	183
		Delhi	29.10.2001	50	170.7	120.7
6.	Shyam Telelink	Rajasthan	4.3.1998	29.29(old)	32.25	2.96
7.	HFCL Infotel Ltd.	Punjab	7.11.1997	177.59(old)	151.75	0

Guidelines on issuing of National Long Distance (NLD) Services Licence

The DoT issued guidelines for NLD operations along with the licences. The main aspects of the Guidelines are:

Unlimited entry for carrying inter-circle and intra-circle calls
Total foreign equity of the operator should not exceed 74 per cent.
Private operators had to enter into an agreement with fixed service providers with in a circle for traffic between long distance and short distance charging centres
A timeframe of seven years was set for rolling out services. This timeframe was divided into four phases. If in any of the phases the operator failed to achieve its network coverage target then it would result in encashment and forfeiture of the bank guarantee of that phase
Private operators had to pay an entry fee of 25 million and a financial bank guarantee of Rs. 200 million.
Under the revenue sharing agreement, the DoT would charge maximum 6 per cent revenue generated by the private operator.
Private operators were allowed to set up landing facilities for accessing submarine cables and make use of available excess bandwidth.

Guidelines on issuing of International Long Distance (ILD) Services licences

The DoT issued new guidelines for ILD licences in December, 2005. This was done to implement licence simplification measures and also to allow higher foreign investment. The key features of the Guidelines were:

The ILD service, under the Guidelines was defined as network carriage or bearer service which allows NLD licensees international connectivity to foreign networks
The ILD service provider was allowed to provide all kinds of bearer services from an integrated platform. However, a separate licence was required for satellite and global mobile personal communication services.
The terms for the license: (i) the applicant must be an Indian company; (ii) the company must have net-worth and paid up capital of 2.5 crores; (ii) the total foreign equity should not exceed 74 per cent
The ILD licence was issued for a period of 20 year on a non-exclusive basis, and it would be automatically renewed for another term of five year subject to satisfactory performance.
The entry fee for the ILD licence was Rs. 2.5 crores and an unconditional bank guarantee of the same amount has to be submitted, which could be forfeited subject to failure in fulfilling the roll out obligations. The licensee had to also submit an additional financial bank guarantee of Rs. 20 crores. The ILD operators also had to pay a 6 per cent of the annual adjusted gross revenue as annual licence fee. The Guideline also laid down that an additional fee will be charged for the universal service obligation and use of spectrum
The ILD operator has to submit to the DoT detailed plan of the rollout obligation and also commission at least one gateway switch in order to interconnect with NLD licensees. Such networks must be in conformity with the international and national standards.
For provide ILD services, the operator may obtain leased lines from other access providers.
The ILD operators can provide lower-than-toll quality service, provided that there is no degradation in the quality of services.
The gateway and landing stations may be established. However, this will be subject to security and monitoring requirements.
The ILD operator had to furnish detailed accounts periodically and furnish any such information requested by TRAI.
An ILD operator, must co-operate provide facilities to law enforcement and government agencies for monitoring and surveillance. However, the licensee must also ensure protection of privacy of communication.

[1]. The auction process consisted of three rounds of bidding. A minimum bid price was prescribed for each round. The highest bid in the first round was declared the minimum reserve price in the second round. Subsequently the highest bid in the second round was set as the reserve price in the third round. The lowest bidders in each round were rejected to participate in the next round of bidding.

[2]. Annexure 1, Guidelines for Unified Access (Basic and Cellular) Service Licence, November 11, 2003 available at www.dot.gov.in/uas/Guidelines-Unified_License111103.doc

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/govt-policy-and-guidelines

TRAI Regulations

snehashish — 2013-03-15T06:35:23Z

This section will deal with all regulations issued by TRAI in the course of its functions.

It issues regulations with respect to various aspects of the telecom industry. TRAI regulations generally, deal with:

Interconnection issues (usage charges, agreement, revenues sharing).
Quality of the telecom services.
Consumer protection and redressal of grievance including unsolicited commercial communication.
Access to essential infrastructure such as cable landing stations.
Mobile number portability.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/trai-regulations

TRAI Telecommunication Tariff Orders

snehashish — 2013-03-15T07:04:18Z

This section will deal with the Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 which was issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, in order to put a cap on the call rates and other allied services.

The Tariff order mandates that transparency is tariff and consumer protection. The Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 has gone through numerous amendments due to changes in the technology and the competition in the market. The Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 has gone through 53 amendments as on October, 2012. The TRAI also has laid down tariff orders for broadcasting and cable services.

The main highlights of the Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 are:

Review of Tariffs: The TRAI has the authority to review and modify the tariff of any telecommunication service.
Standard Package: The telecom service provider has to provide a standard package to all its consumers.
Limits on Tariff: In case there is a specific ceiling on the tariff of a certain telecommunication service, then the service provider has to fix any rate above that ceiling. Similarly, if the TRAI sets a tariff as the floor then the operator cannot provide such service below the rates specified by the authority.
Reporting Requirement: The telecom operator has to report to the TRAI about the introduction of tariff and the changes subsequent to it.
Transparency and Consumer Protection: Tariffs charged by the operators should be published along with the terms and conditions attached to it in a manner as prescribed by the TRAI from time to time. It should also project the tariffs in a comparison table and the charges to be paid by the subscriber vis-a-vis the specified standard packages.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/trai-telecommunication-tariff-orders

Licensing Framework for Telecom: A Historical Overview

snehashish — 2013-03-15T07:13:56Z

In this unit, Snehashish Ghosh tells us about licence, and lists out the major changes in the telecom licensing schemes since 1991.

Before analyzing the telecom licensing framework in India, it is imperative that one must examine what is a liceince. Licence issued by the government is an authority, given to a person upon certain conditions to do something which would have been illegal or wrongful otherwise. For example, a driver’s licence issued by the government, gives the authority to a person to drive a motor vehicle. There are three main types of licence fee which the government charges: (i) initial licence fee, which generally is non-refundable, (ii) annual licence fee, and (iii) additional fee for allocation of spectrum.

Licensing framework has been an integral part of India’s telecommunication law. Under the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885, section 4 gives power to the government to grant licence to any person to establish, maintain or use a telegraph. However, in the telecom sector, the government had complete monopoly until the early 1990s. Since 1992, the government has allowed licensing in the telecom sector. The major changes in the telecom licensing schemes are listed below:

1991: The government allowed private telecom companies to manufacture telecom switches for telephone exchange.

1992: The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) invited bids for licences for cellular service across the four metros. The DoT offered two licences per metro city. The process involved two stages. First stage, technical evaluation of the bidder and the second stage involved financial evaluation of the bidder.

The rejected bidders challenged the selection process on the grounds that it was unclear and arbitrary.[1]The Supreme Court decided that it would not interfere into the government decision making function until and unless they are patently arbitrary and unfair.

The litigation delayed the launch of the cellular mobile services by three years. Finally the first mobile services were launched in Calcutta in the year 1995. It also brought to the fore-front the lack of policy with respect to licensing and regulatory framework for telecommunication.

Licence Fee and Tariff: A minimum licence fee was specified for each metro. The annual licence fee was highest in Bombay. It was set at Rs. 30 million, which was increased to Rs. 240 million by the seventh year, similarly licence fee for Delhi, Calcutta and Madras were set at Rs. 20 million, Rs. 15 million and Rs. 10 million, respectively. However, by the seventh year the licence fee for the three metros were 160 million, 120 million and 80 million, respectively.

The licence fee was revised and the DoT asked the operators to pay Rs. 5000 per subscriber as annual licence. The licence fee was again revised and service operators had to pay Rs. 6,023 per subscriber.

The DoT also placed caps on the rental and tariffs. The service providers could charge a maximum Rs. 156 only as rental. The call tariff was set at a standard rate of Rs. 8.40; off peak was set at half the standard rate and peak rate was double the standard rate. DoT placed a cap on security deposit which had to be paid by the subscriber; it was restricted to Rs. 3000.

The change in the annual licence fee in the four metro cities is illustrated in the table below:

Metros	Bombay	Delhi	Calcutta	Madras
Licensees	BPL Telecom Maxtouch	Bharti Cellular Sterling	Usha Martin Modi Telstra	Skycell RPG Cellular
Annual Licence Fee (Rs million)
Year 1	30	20	15	10
Year 2	60	30	30	20
Year 3	120	80	60	40
Year 4-6*	180	120	90	60
Year 7*	240	160	120	80

*The service operator has to pay either the annual licence fee or Rs. 5000 per subscriber, whichever was higher.

[Source: TRAI, (1999c: 24-25) as cited in Ashok V. Desai, Indian Telecommunication Industry: History, Analysis and Diagnosis, Sage Publication 2006, pp. 77].

May, 1993: The DoT commissioned ICICI to study and prepare a report on the possibility of private participation in the telecommunication sector.

1994: The DoT took a step back, after falling into controversy, in its previous attempt to allow licensing in the telecom sector. However, the Finance Ministry was in the favour of private participation in the telecom sector and it argued that the incumbents need assistance from the private telecom service providers for increasing the tele-density in the country. In order to study the issue, a committee was set up under ICICI. The report finally culminated into the National Telecom Policy, 1994.

The National Telecom Policy, 1994 laid down the following criteria for the entry of private operators:

Track record of the company
Compatibility of the technology
Usefulness of technology being offered for future development
Protection of national security interests
Ability to give best service to the customer at the most competitive cost
Attractiveness of the commercial terms to the Department of Telecommunication[2]

1995: DoT allowed bidding for cellular licences and wireline licences. Spectrum was bundled with the telecom service provider licence. For the implementation of the licensing scheme, the country was divided into 21 circles (excluding four metros) and it was categorized in to circles namely A, B and C on the basis of the potential of the circle to generate revenue. DoT awarded two licences in each circle; one to the state operator and the other to the private operator. The potential service providers in order to be eligible for bidding for licences had to partner up with a foreign company. The foreign shareholder was allowed to hold equity share

Metros: Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata, Chennai

Cirlce A: Gujarat, Karnataka, Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh, Maharashtra

Circle B: Haryana, Punjab, Kerala, Rajasthan, West Bengal, Uttar Pradesh (West), Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh (East)

Circle C: Bihar, Northeast, Assam, Orissa, Himachal Pradesh, Jammu & Kashmir

Eligibility for the private companies to bid for the licence: (i) financial net worth of the company making the bid and (ii) experience of the company in providing telecom services. The minimum net worth to qualify for bidding was set by DoT. A service provider in order to be eligible for bidding should have a minimum paid up capital of Rs. 1 billion and net worth of Rs. 10 billion. The auction of the licences was carried out through a first price sealed bid auction.[3] Two licences were awarded in each circle in order to avoid monopoly of service provider in a circle.

Licence fee and Tariff: A total of 34 licences were issued. The term of the licence was fixed at ten years which was revised to 15 years. The service providers had to pay an annual licence fee which was agreed upon during the auction of the licence. The annual licence fee was based on the projection of revenue generation. There was no allocation spectrum but the government levied charges for spectrum usage as well. The tariffs were same as for the metro licences.

Wire line Licences: DoT also issued six licences for basic telephone services.

Financial Breakdown: After the issue of cellular licences in 1995, six of the service providers were in default due to non-payment of licence fee by the early 1997. By the year 1998 the number of defaulters increased to eight.

The Bureau of Industry Cost and Prices (BICP) was requested to look into the matter. The BICP after investigation reported that 13 operators were running in loss. According to the BICP report, the telecom service providers were running in loss because of the high licence fee, interconnection charges and spectrum usage charges imposed by the DoT. One of the recommendations of the BICP was that the rental should be increased from Rs. 156 to Rs. 600. This would decrease the demand for mobile phones but allow service providers to sustain their business.

ICICI conducted a study, as well. The study revealed that 17 per cent of the consumers had not used their cell phone at all and 37 per cent of the subscriber had bills below Rs. 500 a month. This clearly showed that projection of revenue by the DoT was faulty.

Reasons for the Financial Breakdown (TRAI Report, 1999)

Later, in 1999 the TRAI studied the cellular operators. The study showed that main reasons for the financial failure of the telecom service provider were:

Heavy capital investment for setting up infrastructure, which was underutilized
Number of subscriber lower than projected
The average revenue per user (ARPU) was lower than the costs incurred by the service provider. The ARPU in circles A, B and C were Rs. 1100, Rs. 800 and Rs. 600 respectively.
Significant amount of the finances of the service provider were used to pay licence fees.
Operational charges also took a toll on the service providers.

None of the studies took into consideration that the industry was oligopolistic in nature and the incumbents flooded the market with basic telephone connections.[4] The obvious conclusion was that the revenue generated by the cellular operators was not able to cover their costs.

The financial failure of the telecom operator under the 1994 policy led to the implementation of New Telecom Policy, 1999.

1998: Internet services were rolled out in 1995 by Videsh Sanchar Nigam Limited (VSNL). In November, 1998, the government opened it up to the private sectors.

1999: The New Telecom Policy, 1999 allowed the migration of the licensees from a Fixed Licence Fee Regime to a Revenue Arrangement Scheme (w.e.f. 1/08/1999). Under the new scheme a licence fees was collected as proportional tax on the service provider’s revenue. Previously, there were two operators in each circle and the 1999 Policy allowed the government as the third operator in the circle.

The 1999 Policy issued licences for the following services:

Cellular Mobile Service Providers (CMSPs);
Fixed Service Providers (FSPs) and Cable Service Providers, collectively referred as ‘Access Providers’;
Radio Paging Service Providers;
Public Mobile Radio Trunking Service Providers;
National Long Distance Operators;
International Long Distance Operators;
Global Mobile Personal Communication by Satellite (GMPCS) Service Providers;
V-SAT based Service Providers

Licence and Tariff: Licence holders under the 1994 policy migrated to the new licensing regime, under the New Telecom Policy, 1999. In order to shift from the fixed licence fee regime to revenue arrangement scheme the service providers had to pay previous arrears in licence fee on a pro-rata basis till July 31, 1999. Under the new adjusted gross revenue, the service providers had to pay 15 per cent of their adjusted gross revenue.[5] The circle operators also had to pay spectrum usage charge.

TRAI regulated the tariff under the New Telecom Policy, 1999. It brought down the call tariff from the peak rate of 16.80 to Rs. 6 per minute with a pulse of 20 seconds. This allowed the consumers to make calls for a minimum of Rs. 2.00. TRAI also put a cap of Rs. 600 on the rental charges. After notification of tariffs in the year 1999, TRAI examined the accounts of the service providers and found out that under the 1999 licensing regime there was healthy competition and the service providers were providing mobiles services at price, below the TRAI ceilings.

Tariffs	DoT ceiling on tariffs under National Telecom Policy, 1994 (in rupees)	TRAI ceilings on tariffs under the New Telecom Policy, 1999 (in rupees)	Industry rates under the New Telecom Policy (in rupees) – average rates
Call Rates (peak-time)	16.80 per minute	6.00 per minute	2.03 per minutes
Rental	156	600	195
Security	3000	-NA-	-NA-

2000: The government issued licence for national long distance telephony (NLDO). There was no restriction on the number of operators to whom the licence was granted. The licence was issued for a period of 20 years on a non-exclusive basis and could be extended upto a period of 10 years once. The entry fee for NLDO licence is Rs. 2.5 crore.[6] There are 32 companies other than BSNL, the incumbent, which have been granted licence for national long distance services. This has facilitated healthy competition in the market.

2001: Licence for basic telephone services using wireless in local loop (WLL). This was the first time that the first-come-first-serve scheme was implemented for issuing licences.

2001: A bid for cellular licence for a fourth operator was introduced in January 2001. The auction was carried out in three stages. The fourth licensee had to pay a sum of 17 per cent of the revenue in addition to the entry fees.

2002: DoT issued licence to private operators for International Long Distance Telephony (ILD) services. The entry fee for ILD licence is 2.5 crores.[7] The licence was valid for a term of 30 years. Currently the annual licence fee on ILD service is 7 per cent on the adjusted gross revenue. However, DoT has revised it to a uniform rate of 8 per cent on the adjusted gross revenue from the year 2013-2014.[8]

2003: Introduction of calling party pays (CPP). Under CPP, no charges can be levied on receiving a call in the home circle.

2003: Unified Access Service Licensing (UASL) regime was introduced by DoT on the recommendation of the TRAI. The UASL “permitted an access service provider to offer both fixed and/or mobile services under the same licence, using any technology.”[9]

The country was divided into 23 service areas, 19 telecom circles and 4 metro circles for the purpose of implementing unified access services (UAS).

TRAI announced the guidelines for migration to the UASL regime on November 11, 2003.[10] An operator under the UASL was allowed to provide for free within its own area of operation, service which cover collection, carriage, transmission and delivery of voice and/or non-voice messages over licensee’s network by deploying circuit and/or packet switched equipment.

Licence Fees: The licence fee for the service operator was two-fold. Fee was charged for migration from Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (CMTS) licence to UASL. This fee was equal to the amount paid by the fourth licensee introduced in the market in the year 2001. Apart from the migration fee, an annual licence fee is also levied according to the circle in which the service provider is operating. The annual licence fee is 10 per cent, 8 per cent and 6 per cent on the adjusted gross revenue in the circles A, B and C respectively.

2007: DoT allowed issuing of licences for operating on dual technologies that is CDMA and GSM. DoT also allowed single licence to Internet Service Providers (ISP) but restriction was put in VoIP.

2011: The government introduced mobile number portability (MNP) which injected further competition in the telecom market. Under the MNP, a cellular subscriber can avail services of another service provider while keeping the same mobile number. Previously, change of mobile number used to be the biggest deterrent to change service provider, this was done away with the MNP scheme.

2012: National Telecom Policy, 2012 introduced Unified Licensing Regime. Under the regime, service operators can provide converged services. The spectrum has been delinked from the licence.

[1]. Tata Cellular v. Union of India, 1994 SCC (6) 651.
[2]. Para 9, National Telecom Policy, 1994 available at http://bit.ly/N4dlEk
[3]. In first price sealed bid auction, the bids are kept secret; the bids are then compared and the highest bidder wins and pays a sum equal to the bid amount.
[4]. Ashok V. Desai, India’s Telecommunication Industry: History, Analysis, Diagnosis, Sage Publication, 2006, pp. 83-84.
[5]. A licensee's adjusted gross revenue usually refers to the total amount of its gross revenue (including all charges, sees, sale proceeds, and miscellaneous revenue) minus interconnection and roaming charges paid to other licensees and service taxes paid to rhe government. See Model Cellular License, Schedule-II, at paragraph 20.1.
[6]. Department of Telecommunication, Annual Report 2011-12 pp. 18
[7]. Id. At pp. 19.
[8]. Notification no. 10-54/2010-CS-11 dated 28^th June, 2012 available at http://bit.ly/Q5nI5O
[9]. Recommendations on Spectrum Management and Licensing Frampework, TRAI, 11th May, 2010.
[10].Unified Access Services available at http://bit.ly/lOQZW7

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/licensing-framework-for-telecom

Internet Protocol Television

Tina Mani — 2013-03-15T08:37:39Z

In this unit, Tina Mani discusses about Internet Protocol Television (IP TV), what is it, its history, how it works, and the service providers in India.

IPTV

What is IP TV?
IP TV stands for Internet Protocol Television, i.e., television that is delivered to the house over an IP Network, rather than over traditional satellite, cable or terrestrial networks. This means that the television content is packetized into IP packets and delivered through a high speed access network (like Digital Subscriber Line ( DSL)).

The term IPTV should not be confused with the delivery of television over internet (for example watching YouTube videos or live channels like NDTV on your PC over your broadband connection). Traditionally internet is a best effort network and does not provide any guarantees to an individual service. However, the IP network used for delivery of IPTV is built specially to deliver this service and hence has performance and security features required to build a reliable service which customers will pay for.

Hence, IPTV is usually provided by fixed network providers who already deliver voice and internet services to the last mile (i.e., the customer premises), and have control over the network from the head end up to the customer premise. Traditional TV using satellite or cable only includes Live TV and maybe a fixed small collection of movies that can be viewed as pay per view. IPTV is typically richer with features like gaming, time shift television and Video on Demand (VoD), apart from live TV. More on these features are described in the FAQ.

History
The term IPTV first appeared in 1995 with the founding of Precept Software. Precept developed an internet video product named IP/TV. It was a Windows and Unix-based application that transmitted single and multi-source audio and video traffic, ranging from low to DVD quality. Precept was acquired by Cisco Systems in 1998. Cisco retains the IP/TV trademark.

Kingston Communications, a regional telecommunications operator in the UK, launched KIT (Kingston Interactive Television), an IPTV over DSL broadband interactive TV service in September 1999. Kingston was one of the first companies in the world to introduce IPTV and IP VoD over ADSL.[1]

How does it work?
The figure below gives a very high level view of an IPTV system.

Figure 1: IPTV High level Architecture[2]

At the head end, content like Live TV channels are picked up from various sources like the satellite, and decrypted. The content is then compressed into a digital format like MPEG-2 or MPEG-4. Multiple programs or channels or sources like this are then packed into a single transport stream (MPEG2-TS) and packetized into IP packets to be multicast over the IP network.

Video on Demand programs are stored in a VoD Server after encrypting them with content protection mechanisms. The VoD servers are either centralized or geographically distributed. The VoD content is accessed by the individual subscriber through a unicast stream, since it is on-demand, catering to one individual.

The IP packets reach the home through a broadband access like DSL, where a splitter is used to separate out the TV from regular broadband.

The TV channels are played out through the Set Top Box, which is programmed to listen to the multicast channels depending on which channel it is tuned to, or the unicast stream for video on demand. It provides the interactive interface to allow the user to navigate different live channels, Video on Demand, movies, games, etc.

In the case of multiple set top boxes and PCs to view the programs, a home gateway can be used. Protocols like DLNA are used for networking within the home.

IPTV viewing on the PC

Viewing IPTV content on a Personal Computer usually requires a client which allows protected content to be viewed, and to provide a TV like view with programming guides, etc. Verimatrix Viewright is an example of a PC client that decodes protected content for PC viewing. More about this will be discussed in Module 8.2 IPTV.

IPTV viewing on cable

This will be discussed in detail in Module 8.7 Cable TV.

IPTV in India

In India, IPTV services are provided by Bharti Airtel in Delhi and Bangalore, as well as by BSNL and MTNL (through Aksh Optifiber (branded as iControl) and Smart TV group (branded as MyWay)). MyWay has recently exited the IPTV market due to insufficient demand.[3] IPTV is expected to pick up again in a few years when there is better last mile connectivity with Fiber to the Home (FTTH) or Long Term Evolution (LTE).

[1].From Wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IPTV)
[2].HSC Technical Wiki (bit.ly/ND9zxt)
[3].Light Reading Article (http://bit.ly/uKDGdG)

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/ip-tv

IPTV (FAQs)

Tina Mani — 2013-03-15T08:51:37Z

This chapter deals with frequently asked questions relating to difference between IPTV and mobile television, IPTV and Internet television, difference between broadcast and unicast methods of television, additional support required for handsets to support MBMS, etc.

Mobile Television

What is the difference between IPTV and Mobile Television?
Mobile Television is the availability of regular television channels to view on your mobile. The bandwidth available in a wireless network is variable, also, the mobile device sizes are not standardized, and hence the technology requires support to adapt to these varied conditions. On the contrary, IPTV usually uses a reliable and controlled medium like fixed line broadband, or cable as a medium of transmission. It also assumes that the service provider offers some guarantees on the bandwidth allocated for television.

What is the difference between IPTV and Internet television?
Internet television refers to television/video service provided over the internet. In the case of Internet television, the content is streamed over the Web just like any other multimedia service. The internet is characterized by lack of guarantees about the bandwidth, although the variability is less than in the case of mobile networks. Internet television uses unicast point to point streaming because it is a service accessed by individual users from anywhere in the network.

On the contrary, IPTV usually uses a reliable and controlled medium like fixed line broadband, or cable as a medium of transmission. IPTV uses IP multicast over a controlled network with a set of users specifically subscribed to the service. Mobile television and internet television (television viewing on the PC using an internet connection) are also sometimes referred to as Over the Top or unmanaged television.

Which is the difference between broadcast and unicast methods of television?
Broadcast method of television allows multiple users to receive the same transmission from the source, while unicast television is a point to point method where a stream is sent to each user separately.

Which is a better mode of television – broadcast or unicast?
Ideally a combination of the two modes allows maximum flexibility and efficiency. Unicast television makes sense where each user gets personalized services like Video on Demand, recording of programs and so on. Broadcast television is more efficient when many people in the same area are viewing a popular program at the same time. IPTV uses broadcast/multicast technology for the live television and common television channels, and the unicast method for the personalized services.

What are the various technologies defined for mobile broadcast television?
Some of the technologies defined for mobile broadcast television include MediaFlo (A Qualcomm standard), Digital Video Broadcasting (DVB-H), Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Services (MBMS), Enhanced MBMS (e-MBMS) and Advanced Television Committee Standards (ATSC). Of these, e-MBMS is the latest technology expected to see mass adoption in the future, while DVB-H has been deployed in some places in Europe and MediaFlo in the US in the past. Of these technologies, MediaFlo is a proprietary technology; MBMS has been created by 3GPP, while the DVB-H and ATSC come as an evolution of traditional television standards.

What additional support is required for the handsets to support MBMS?
The handsets should be able to read three control channels defined for MBMS, which indicate the availability of MBMS, understand the frame structure of the transmission, and read the actual broadcast data. It should also support OMA BCAST, which is a standard defined for the Electronic Service Guide (ESG) and renders the television programming guide information.

Are there any MBMS compliant handsets in the market?
MBMS has been trialed by many operators starting from 2007; however, commercial deployments of MBMS have not been announced. It is expected that some of the LTE operators in Asia, especially densely populated countries like India and China will launch MBMS. There are no commercially available handsets that support MBMS in the open market. The handsets used are expected to be custom made and bundled with LTE subscriptions.

Are any additional network elements needed to support MBMS?
An element called BMS-C (Broadcast Multicast Service Center) is introduced; this manages subscription, billing and session information for MBMS. Other network elements like MCE (Multi-cell Coordination Entity) are also required for multi-cell broadcast, in LTE networks, where multiple cells are coordinated to retransmit the same information. More details will be discussed in the technical module 2.8.6.

Where are the standards for MBMS defined?
MBMS was introduced in Release 6 of 3GPP specs, but has been defined in more detail in Release 9, in conjunction with LTE.

Additional Reading: http://bit.ly/LUloxu

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/ip-tv-faqs

Broadband Wireless Access – Standards

Jürgen Kock — 2013-03-15T09:21:59Z

In this unit, Jürgen Kock tells us about the broadband wireless access standards, why do we need technical standards, who defines BWA standards, WiMAX standards and long term evolution.

Why do we need technical standards?

Standards define key aspects of a technology. Thanks to standardization consumers can for example buy any kind of AA battery and be sure, that it’ll work in most, if not all, devices that specify the use of this kind of batteries. While batteries follow global standards, power plugs are only defined on a national basis. Travelers know about this inconvenience.

In wireless communication, standards ensure interoperability between user devices and the radio network of different vendors. Frequency bands, modulation techniques, power levels and encryption are just some of the aspects covered by standards.

Who defines BWA standards?

IMT-2000

The ITU-R (International Telecommunication Union – Radiocommunication Sector) started in the 1980s to define the requirements for a 3rd generation of mobile communication systems. As an agency of the UN (United Nations) the ITU combines the effort of governments and the telecommunication industries for a worldwide supported standardization. Finally, in the year 2000 the ITU approved the technical specifications for the 3rd generation of mobile networks under the name "IMT-2000" (International Mobile Telecommunications-2000). One goal of IMT-2000 is to provide seamless delivery of services. The minimum requirements for data speed were defined at 2Mbps for stationary or walking users and 348 kbpsfor fast moving users in vehicles.

IMT Advanced

The ITU has coined the term IMT Advanced to identify mobile systems whose capabilities go beyond those of IMT 2000. In order to meet this new challenge, 3GPPs Organizational Partners have agreed to widen 3GPP’s scope to include the development of systems beyond 3G. Some of the key features of IMT-Advanced will be: Worldwide functionality & roaming Compatibility of services Interworking with other radio access systems Enhanced peak data rates to support advanced services and applications (100 Mbit/s for high and 1 Gbit/s for low mobility) Source: http://bit.ly/qYLvQj

Two competing technologies are the basis for Broadband Wireless Access. The evolution of mobile or cellular networks called Long Term Evolution (LTE)lies under the responsibility of the ITU and the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership Program). We’ll start our discussion with the competing technology called WiMAX (Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access).

WiMAX Standards
WiMAX is based on the IEEE suite of standards 802.16.[1] The initial standard was released in 2001 and is named 802.16-2001 accordingly. The goal was to define a wireless broadband technology for fixed users, with a range of up to 50 km and data rates that can compete with wireline DSL (Digital Subscriber Line). For achieving coverage of such wide distances, this initial standard required a line-of-sight between sender and receiver, which was soon seen as a limitation of the technology.

In 2004 the standard was updated, but still covered only fixed users. 802.16d-2004 is therefore referred to as the current standard for Fixed WiMAX. The frequency range 2 – 11 GHz’s was added to the previously defined range of 10 – 66 GHz’s. The new range allowed for static connections without a line of sight. Static means, that there is no handover mechanism defined, when a user moves out of the range of his cell.

With 802.16e-2005 the standards where extended to cover Mobile WiMAX. Handover and roaming support was added for slow moving users. The frequency bands used for mobile users are 2.3 and 2.5 GHz. Of course, service providers can also offer fixed access in those frequencies.

The latest release of the WiMAX standards 802.16m-2011 defines an advanced air interface with data rates of up 1 gigabit. This fulfills the formal requirements of 4G networks as defined by the ITU.

LTE – Long Term Evolution
LTE is defined by the 3GPP (3rd Generation Partnership), a collaboration between groups of telecommunications associations. It provides detailed technical specifications to cover all aspects of a cellular communication network within the frameworks IMT-2000 and IMT Advanced of the ITU.

The standardization is published in so called Releases.[2] Release 1 to 7 covered 2G and 3G networks including UMTS (Universal Mobile Telecommunications System).

Source: Anritsu, Understanding LTE (http://bit.ly/NDBlKf)

Release 8, published in 2008, marked the first LTE standard. The goal of 3GPP was to define an evolutionary upgrade of cellular networks, providing higher data rates and improved quality of service. At the same time the demand for cost reduction and a low complexity of the network architecture was addressed. Unlike the WiMAX standard, LTE standardization encompasses the whole network architecture including the radio network, core network and service architecture.

Here is an overview of the key requirements and features of the different 3GPP LTE releases:

Mobility

Optimized for low mobile speed from 0 to 15 km/h.
Higher mobile speed between 15 and 120 km/h should be supported with high performance.
Mobility across the cellular network shall be maintained at speeds from 120 km/h to 350 km/h (or evenup to 500 km/h depending on the frequency band).

Coverage

Throughout, spectrum efficiency and mobility targets above should be met for 5 km cells, and with aslight degradation for 30 km cells.

Release 8 - 2008
This was the first LTE release. The release contains 36 technical specifications.

Evolved radio access
- New air interface (not backward compatible)
- High spectral efficiency
  — OFDM (Orthogonal Frequency Division Multiple Access) in Downlink, Robust against multipath interference (reduces path loss)
  — Single-Carrier FDMA in Uplink
- Variable bandwidth: 1.4, 3, 5, 10, 15 and 20 MHz
- Support of Multiple Antenna technology MIMO
- FDD and TDD within a single radio access technology
- Simple Architecture
- Very low latency: Short setup time and short transfer delay
Evolved Packet Core
- Reduced complexityof the core network
- All IP network SAE (System Architecture Evolution)
- Support of Self-Organizing Network (SON) operation

Source: LTE-Release 8 User Equipment Categories, http://bit.ly/9R0DIm

Release 9 - 2009
Release 9 brings enhancements and Improvements for

System Architecture Evolution
WiMAX and LTE/UMTS Interoperability
Location services
Emergency services
Broadcast services
Voice Over LTE (VoLTE)

Release 10 – 2011 - LTE-Advanced

First release of LTE Advanced
Backwards compatible with release 8 (LTE).
Fulfilling IMT Advanced 4G requirements (For example 1 Gbps peak downlink data rate)
Multi-Cell HSDPA with 4 carriers

Release 11 – planned in 2012 Q3

Advanced IP Interconnection of Services

Service layer interconnection between national operators/carriers as well as third party application providers

Peak Data Rates

Sources – Further Readings:

ITU Overview for IMT-2000 (http://bit.ly/NdSM8E)
ITU Entry Point for IMT Advanced (http://bit.ly/f5FqtH)
Homepage of 3GPP (http://bit.ly/Cai9O)
3GPP Entry Point forLTE (http://bit.ly/Cai9O)
3GPP Entry Point for LTE Advanced (http://bit.ly/Cai9O)
Wikipedia article about 3GPP (http://bit.ly/dugu8O)
3GPP technical paper UTRA-UTRAN Long Term Evolution (LTE) and 3GPP System Architecture Evolution (SAE) including high level requirements (http://bit.ly/NhbfeE)
E-Learning on LTE and other Telecommunication Fundamentals (http://bit.ly/NdTd2A)
LTE Introduction (http://bit.ly/rxQDzE)

[1].To download 802.16 standards: http://bit.ly/SgpUeV
[2].To downloadLTE and LTE Advanced standards:http://bit.ly/LCR9em

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/broadband-wireless-access

Mesh Networks

Ravikiran Annaswamy — 2013-03-15T09:39:03Z

Ravikiran Annaswamy tells us the definition of Mesh Networks, its importance, applications and the things to explore in future.

Imagine[1] a room full of people in a party spread around randomly. One of the people wants to pass information to another in the corner of the room. The traditional telecom networking way of passing information involves having a person at the center of the room acts as a switch and routes the information from sender to receiver.

Mesh networks provides a new way of organizing the network, every person in the room can speak independently to the person next to him and in turn the second person speaks to the next person till the information reaches the destination. The route for the information is optimized to get the shortest path.

Definition of Mesh Networks

Mesh networks are highly interconnected network of computers or communication devices. This concept is applicable in software systems, wired networks and wireless networks. These networks consist of nodes (like computers, routers, radio base stations and mobile phones) and are connected to each other to carry information across.

Mesh networking is organic — every node in the neighborhood contributes network resources and cooperates.[2]

By Definition, Mesh networks are a way of structuring peer nodes in such a way that each node acts as a switch or a router deciding how to forward the information they receive. These networks use every node to determine the path of the signal, hence its important for every node in the network to be live and healthy. This requires self-healing algorithms to dynamically identify new routes in the network. The concept of Self-organizing Networks (SON) is being implemented to achieve flexibility and scalability.

Importance of Mesh Networks

Traditionally telecom networks are hierarchically structured with centralized control systems. Mobility and increase in number of wireless devices needs a distributed architecture with intelligent nodes like in Mesh networks to manage bandwidth, optimally use spectrum and device power consumption.

IEEE 802.11s is a standard that defines how wireless devices can interconnect to create a mesh network. This covers both the static networks and the ad-hoc networks.

Applications of Mesh Networks

Mesh Networks are applied in various areas of telecom like:

Optical Mesh Networks enable the transport networks with dynamic quality of service, bandwidth on demand and managing bandwidth with peer nodes and applying policies.
Rural or Village communication systems work with wireless nodes in every village connected to each other and provide communication services without depending on the operator infrastructure.
Wireless Ad-hoc networks are decentralized networks with no predefined structure.

Wireless mesh Network is a telecom network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology.[3] This network is used in LTE radio, Metro-Wi-Fi networks and military communication applications in battlefield surveillance, tunnels and oil rigs.
Mobile Ad-hoc Networks (MANET) are mobile devices connected to each other without the need of a central infrastructure. Vehicular ad-hoc networks where vehicles communicate with fixed internet points on the road or between the vehicles themselves is an interesting application.

Next things to look for in future

Mesh networks are evolving in to real world scenarios where in sensors that monitor physical and environmental conditions are networked. These small low power wireless devices are connected through standardized ZigBee[4] protocol specifications.

The application of ZigBee is seen in Home automation, Health care, Remote controls and Smart energy meters.

[1].System Architecture for Wireless Meshes, Fairpoint Group White paper, April 2007, FPG 2007-127.1
[2].Self Organizing Wireless Mesh Networks, Microsoft Research, http://bit.ly/11Rmec
[3].Wireless Mesh Networks: http://bit.ly/hVKII0
[4].ZigBee Description: http://bit.ly/u8XNS

Glossary

Metro-Wi-Fi: Wireless network built with Wi Fi components covering the entire city
MANET: Mobile Ad-hoc networks

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/telecom/resources/mesh-networks

March 2011 Bulletin

praskrishna — 2012-07-30T10:59:46Z

Greetings from the Centre for Internet and Society! In this issue we are pleased to present you the latest updates about our research, upcoming events, and news and media coverage.

Researchers@Work

RAW is a multidisciplinary research initiative. CIS believes that in order to understand the contemporary concerns in the field of Internet and society, it is necessary to produce local and contextual accounts of the interaction between the Internet and socio-cultural and geo-political structures. To build original research knowledge base, the RAW programme has been collaborating with different organisations and individuals to focus on its three year thematic of Histories of the Internets in India. Monographs finalised from these projects are online for peer review.

New Blog Entry by Zainab Bawa in Transparency and Politics

A History of Transparency, Politics and Information Technologies in India

Digital Natives with a Cause?

Digital Natives with a Cause? is a knowledge programme initiated by CIS and Hivos, Netherlands. It is a research inquiry that seeks to look at the changing landscape of social change and political participation and the role that young people play through digital and Internet technologies, in emerging information societies. Consolidating knowledge from Asia, Africa and Latin America, it builds a global network of knowledge partners who want to critically engage with the dominant discourse on youth, technology and social change, in order to look at the alternative practices and ideas in the Global South. It also aims at building new ecologies that amplify and augment the interventions and actions of the digitally young as they shape our futures.

Column on Digital Natives

A fortnightly column on ‘Digital Natives’ authored by Nishant Shah is featured in the Sunday Eye, the national edition of Indian Express, Delhi, from 19 September 2010 onwards. The following was published recently:

Watson knows the Question [Indian Express, March 6, 2011]

Blog Entries by Maesey Angelina

Maesey Angelina works as a programme officer at Hivos, Jakarta on gender, women and development while exploring research initiatives on Digital Natives in Indonesia. She spent one month in CIS, working on her dissertation, exploring the Blank Noise project under the Digital Natives with a Cause framework. She writes a series of blog entries. The new ones are:

Blog Entries by Samuel Tettner

Samuel Tettner is a Digital Natives Coordinator in CIS. He has written the following blog entries:

Accessibility

Estimates of the percentage of the world's population that is disabled vary considerably. But what is certain is that if we count functional disability, then a large proportion of the world's population is disabled in one way or another. At CIS we work to ensure that the digital technologies, which empower disabled people and provide them with independence, are allowed to do so in practice and by the law. To this end, we support web accessibility guidelines, and change in copyright laws that currently disempower the persons with disabilities.

Featured Research

Accessible Mobile Handsets in India: An Overview

Blog Entry

Note on the Authorities under the Working Draft of Persons with Disabilities Act, 2011 (9th February 2011)

Intellectual Property

CIS believes that access to knowledge and culture is essential as it promotes creativity and innovation and bridges the gaps between the developed and developing world positively. Hence, the campaigns for an international treaty on copyright exceptions for print-impaired, advocating against PUPFIP Bill, calls for the WIPO Broadcast Treaty to be restricted to broadcast, questioning the demonization of 'pirates', and supporting endeavours that explore and question the current copyright regime. Its latest endeavour has resulted into these:

Featured Research

Pirates, Plagiarisers, Publishers [ Written by Prashant Iyengar and originally published in the Economic & Political Weekly, February 26, 2011, Vol XLVI No 9]

Submission

Comments to the Ministry on WIPO Broadcast Treaty (March 2011)

Openness

Workshops organised

Design!publiC [Taj Vivanta, New Delhi, March 18, 2011]
Open Access to Scientific Information Indian International Centre [New Delhi, March 16, 2011]

Internet Governance

Although there may not be one centralized authority that rules the Internet, the Internet does not just run by its own volition: for it to operate in a stable and reliable manner, there needs to be in place infrastructure, a functional domain name system, ways to curtail cyber crime across borders, etc. The Tunis Agenda of the second World Summit on the Information Society (WSIS), paragraph 34 defined Internet governance as “the development and application by governments, the private sector and civil society, in their respective roles, of shared principles, norms, rules, decision-making procedures, and programmes that shape the evolution and use of the Internet.” CIS involvement in the field of Internet governance has taken the following shape:

Submissions

CIS is doing a project, ‘Privacy in Asia’. It is funded by Privacy International (PI), UK and the International Development Research Centre, Canada and is being administered in collaboration with the Society and Action Group, Gurgaon. The two-year project commenced on 24 March 2010 and will be completed as agreed to by the stakeholders. It was set up with the objective of raising awareness, sparking civil action and promoting democratic dialogue around challenges and violations of privacy in India. In furtherance of these goals it aims to draft and promote over-arching privacy legislation in India by drawing upon legal and academic resources and consultations with the public.

Submission

Privacy and Governmental Database

Workshops organized

Privacy Matters - A Public Conference in Ahmedabad [Ahmedabad, March 26, 2011]
Public Talk by Dr. Ian Brown on Privacy, Trust and Biometrics [Centre for Contemporary Studies, IISc, Bangalore, March 21, 2011]
Electronication: Ragas and the Future [Jaaga, Bangalore, March 6, 2011]
Role of the Internet in Fostering Freedom of Expression and Strengthening Activism in India - A Workshop in Delhi [Constitution Club, New Delhi, March 4, 2011]
Global Challenges to Freedom of Expression [Constitution Club, New Delhi, March 4, 2011]

Telecom

The growth in telecommunications in India has been impressive. While the potential for growth and returns exist, a range of issues need to be addressed for this potential to be realized. One aspect is more extensive rural coverage and the second aspect is a countrywide access to broadband which is low at about eight million subscriptions. Both require effective and efficient use of networks and resources, including spectrum. It is imperative to resolve these issues in the common interest of users and service providers. CIS campaigns to facilitate this:

Featured Research

India's untapped potential: Are a billion people losing out because of spectrum?

Column

Shyam Ponappa is a Distinguished Fellow at CIS. He writes regularly on Telecom issues in the Business Standard and these articles are mirrored on the CIS website as well.

Big-Bang Budgets? [published in the Business Standard on March 3, 2011]

Forthcoming Events

CIS is organising some conferences/workshops in the month of March/April:

Web Sites Accessibility Evaluation Methodologies: A New Imperative for State Parties to the Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities[Hyderabad International Convention Centre, Hyderabad]
Shadow Search Project (SSP) in CIS [CIS, Bangalore]
Facebook Resistance Workshop [CIS, Bangalore]

News & Media Coverage

Networking its way to better governance (Hindu, March 28, 2011]
‘Learn from failed UK NIR project’ (Deccan Chronicle, March 22, 2011]
Design!publiC - News from Livemint (Livemint, March 18, 2011)
Muzzling the Internet (Outlook, March 17, 2011)
Battle for the Internet (Down to Earth, Issue: March 15, 2011)
Cause and effect Facebook-style (Hindustan Times, March 13, 2011)
Catch-all approach to Net freedom draws activist ire (Sunday Guardian, March 13, 2011)
Lives suspended in the Web (Indian Express, March 11, 2011)
Draft IT guidelines may gag internet freedom (Times of India, March 11, 2011)
Govt proposal to muzzle bloggers sparks outcry (Times of India, March 10, 2011)
New Indian Rules May Make Online Censorship Easier (Yahoo News, March 7, 2011)
Anti-Social Network (Mail Today, February 27, 2011)

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CIS is grateful to Kusuma Trust which was founded by Anurag Dikshit and Soma Pujari, philanthropists of Indian origin, for its core funding and support for most of its projects.

For more details visit https://cis-india.org/about/newsletters/march%20-2011-bulletin