Soon mobile users will not require SIM cards or even an internet connection to stream their favourite videos as Direct-to-Mobile broadcasting could become a reality in the near future.
Information and Broadcasting Secretary Apurva Chandra recently said that trials of the home-grown Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) technology would soon be held in 19 cities and made a strong pitch for reserving the 470-582 MHz spectrum for this emerging technology while addressing a Broadcasting Summit.
Chandra said a 25-30 per cent shift of video traffic to D2M would unclog the 5G networks, accelerating the nation's digital evolution and democratising content delivery. Last year, pilot projects to test the D2M technology were carried out in Bengaluru, Kartavya Path and Noida.
Chandra said the D2M technology would help reach nearly 8-9 crore "TV Dark" homes across the country. Of the 280 million households in the country, only 190 million have television sets. He said there were 80 crore smartphones in the country and 69 per cent of content accessed by users was in video format.
He said heavy use of video led to the clogging of mobile networks, which resulted in the buffering of content. With the potential to reach over a billion mobile devices, the adoption of D2M technology promises transformative benefits, including cost reductions in data transmission and access, improvements in network efficiency and resilience, and potentially leading to the establishment of a nationwide emergency alert system.
(With inputs from PTI)
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