By Munsif Vengattil
NEW DELHI (Reuters) – Samsung and Qualcomm are amongst these opposing India’s selection of know-how to deliver reside TV broadcasts on smartphones, arguing the required {hardware} adjustments will push up a tool’s value by $30, in response to letters reviewed by Reuters.
India is contemplating a coverage to mandate equipping smartphones with {hardware} to obtain reside TV indicators with out the necessity for mobile networks. It has proposed use of so-called ATSC 3.0 know-how widespread in North America that permits exact geo-locating of TV indicators and offers excessive image high quality.
Corporations nevertheless say their current smartphones in India should not geared up to work with ATSC 3.0, and any efforts so as to add that compatibility will elevate value of every system by $30 as extra elements should be added. Some concern their current manufacturing plans will be damage.
In a joint letter to India’s communication ministry, Samsung, Qualcomm, and telecom gear makers Ericsson and Nokia mentioned including direct-to-mobile broadcasting also can degrade battery efficiency of units and mobile reception.
“We don’t discover any advantage in progressing dialogue on the adoption of this,” mentioned the letter dated Oct. 17 and reviewed by Reuters.
The 4 firms and India’s communication ministry didn’t reply to requests for remark. The proposal remains to be beneath deliberation and may very well be modified, and there’s no mounted timeline for implementation, in response to a supply with direct data.
Digital broadcast of TV channels on smartphones has seen restricted adoption in international locations reminiscent of South Korea and United States. It has not gained traction because of the lack of units that assist the know-how, executives say.
The coverage pushback is the newest from corporations working in India’s smartphone sector. In latest months, they pushed again on India’s transfer to make telephones suitable with a home-grown navigation system and one other proposal to mandate safety testing for handsets.
For India’s authorities, the reside TV broadcast options are a method to offload the congestion on telecom networks because of increased video consumption.
The India Mobile and Electronics Affiliation (ICEA), a lobbying group of smartphone makers that represents Apple and Xiaomi in addition to different firms, opposed the transfer privately in a letter dated Oct 16, saying no main handset maker globally at present helps ATSC 3.0.
Samsung tops India’s smartphone market with a 17.2% share, whereas Xiaomi follows with a 16.6% share, in response to analysis agency Counterpoint. Apple holds 6%.
“The inclusion of any know-how which isn’t confirmed and globally acceptable … will derail the tempo of home manufacturing,” mentioned the ICEA letter, reviewed by Reuters.
(Reporting by Munsif Vengattil; Enhancing by Aditya Kalra and Raju Gopalakrishnan)
