Lok Sabha Question No. 544 (STARRED), answered on 2017-04-12
Subject: Satellite Transponders
Ministry: INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING
Asked by: ANANDRAO  ADSUL, DHARMENDRA YADAV

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *544

(TO BE ANSWERED ON 12.04.2017)

## SATELLITE TRANSPONDERS

## *544.   SHRI ANANDRAO ADSUL : SHRI DHARMENDRA YADAV :

Will the Minister of INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  requirement  for  satellite  transponders  is  increasing  day  by  day  with increase in demand for high definition channels and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended sharing of back-end infrastructure between satellite TV service distributors to help them cut their costs of operations and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  there  is  any  proposal  to  allow  sharing  of  satellite  transponders  and  earth station facilities by a DTH operator with other DTH players and distribution platforms and if so, the details thereof; and
- (d) the  extent  to  which  the  sharing  of  transponders  is  likely  to  address  the  demandsupply mismatch and reduce both capital and operating expenditure of the companies and spur competition?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF  INFORMATION AND BROADCASTING (SHRI M. VENKAIAH NAIDU)

- (a) to (d): A statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) to (d) OF THE LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. *544 FOR ANSWER ON 12.04.2017

- (a) As  intimated  by  Department  of  Space  (DoS),  the  requirement  of  satellite transponder capacity for Direct-to-Home (DTH) services has been increasing with increase in demand  for  High  Definition (HD)  channels.    The  total satellite transponder capacity used  by the DTH  operators  presently stands at 104 transponders.    The  growth  of  usage  of  satellite  transponders  by  DTH  service providers in India over the last five years is given below:

| Date                                                      |   03/2013 |   03/2014 |   03/2015 |   03/2016 |   03/2017 |
|-----------------------------------------------------------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|-----------|
| Satellite transponders (36 MHz equivalent) in use for DTH |        76 |        77 |        78 |        87 |       104 |

Further, as on date there is a committed demand from the DTH service providers for 68 more transponders.

- (b) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued recommendations on sharing of Infrastructure in Television broadcasting distribution sector on 29.03.2017. These recommendations are available on TRAI's website www.trai.gov.in.  The objectives  of  these  recommendations are  to enable  a  policy environment for facilitating sharing of infrastructure in TV broadcasting distribution sector, on voluntary basis.  The sharing of the infrastructure is expected to enhance available distribution network capacities leading to reduction in capital & operative expenditure for the service providers thereby bringing down the price of broadcasting services to subscribers.  In addition, it would lower the entry barriers for  new  service  providers  and  provide  more  space  on  broadcasting  distribution networks for niche channels.
- (c) Ministry of Information and Broadcasting has not received any proposal from DTH operators for sharing of satellite transponders and earth station facilities with other DTH players and distribution platforms.
- (d) Currently all the DTH operators uplink the signals of TV channels to different satellites  located  at  different  orbital  slots.  Majority  of  the  channels  transmitted  by operators are replicated across multiple platforms. This creates capacity constraints and also is a significant cost for each operator, thus making the service expensive. In  this  scenario,  enabling  sharing  of  infrastructure  may  address  the  issue  of demand supply mismatch of transponder capacity and reduce capital and operating expenditure of the service provider.

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