Lok Sabha Question No. 387 (STARRED), answered on 2016-12-14
Subject: M2M Communication and IoT
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: PONNUSAMY VENUGOPAL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.387

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 14 TH   DECEMBER, 2016

## M2M COMMUNICATION AND IoT

*387. DR. P. VENUGOPAL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  proposes  to  issue  a consultation  paper  on  Machine  to  Machine  communication  (M2M)  and  Internet  of Things (IoT) and if so, the details thereof;
- (b) the objective behind the move; and
- (c) the present status thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

- (a) to (  c) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

Contd/elipsis2/-

STATEMENT TO BE LAID ON THE TABLE OF THE LOK SABHA IN RESPECT OF PARTS (a)  TO  (c)  OF  LOK    SABHA  STARRED  QUESTION  NO.387    FOR  14 TH DECEMBER, 2016 REGARDING 'M2M COMMUNICATION AND IoT'.

- (a) The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a Consultation Paper on 'Spectrum, Roaming and Quality of Service (QoS) related requirements in Machine-to-Machine  (M2M)  Communications'  on  18 th October,  2016  seeking  the comments of the stakeholders.

While  formulating  the  consultation  paper  on  M2M  issues,  apart  from  the specific  issues  referred  by  DoT  through    reference,  TRAI  felt  that  certain  other regulatory aspects including policy and licensing framework  for M2M  service providers, various technical challenges in implementation, allocation and utilization of various  network codes, data protection and  privacy issues also need  to be deliberated.  Therefore,  these  issues  have  also  been  included  in  the  Consultation Paper for comments/inputs of the stakeholders.

- (b)     M2M communication is the basis for automated information exchange between machines and can impact various industry verticals like Smart City, Smart Grid, Smart Water, Smart Transportation, Smart Health etc.

M2M communication uses a device (such as a sensor) to capture an event, which is relayed through a network (wireless, wired or hybrid) to an application, that translates  the  captured  event  into  meaningful  information.  M2M  is  also  being  interchangeably used as IoT (Internet of Things).

Accordingly, Government of India has recognized the potential of   M2M and emphasized  the  same  in  the  National  Telecom  Policy  2012.  Subsequently,  the Government has come out with 'National Telecom M2M Roadmap' in May, 2015 with the purpose of boosting development of M2M based products and to provide efficient citizen centric services in India.

In the above background, DoT vide letter dated 5 th January, 2016   has sought the recommendations of TRAI on three aspects related to M2M communications:

- (i) Quality of Service (QoS) in M2M Services
- (ii) M2M Roaming Requirements
- (iii) M2M Spectrum Requirements

Accordingly, TRAI has come out with the consultation paper.

- (c) The  last  date  for  receiving  the  comments  and  counter  comments  from  the stakeholders on this consultation paper  was  15 th November,  2016  and 29 th November,  2016  respectively.  Subsequently,  TRAI  has  extended  the  last  date  for receiving the comments to 12 th January, 2017 and counter comments to 19 th January, 2017.

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