The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) favours 100 per cent foreign ownership in satellite radio services and is against imposing any entry fee unless there is excess demand for available spectrum space. Should there be such a demand, the TRAI in its recommendations to the Government on issues relating to satellite radio services has suggested that tenders be floated as is the case with FM radio.
The recommendations were sent to the Information and Broadcasting on Monday. Of the view that it would be desirable to provide a licensing framework at this juncture itself to avoid uncertainty in the future, the TRAI is against imposing an annual licence fee as long as terrestrial repeaters are not permitted. When repeaters are allowed, the Authority has recommended a revenue sharing arrangement of four per cent of gross revenue generated in India.
Common uplinking
Favouring a common uplinking and downlinking policy for both television and radio, the TRAI has favoured extension of the same for uplinking satellite radio. On the technical front, the TRAI has taken the view that it should be mandatory for satellite radio operators to provide addressability to every subscriber. Such an addressability system should be capable of blocking any unwanted channel or group of channels.
