MTNL has been sitting on its IPTV venture for well over a year, and here’s something that doesn’t help things: the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has sent the public sector telecom operator a letter seeking clarifications on why it has violated license conditions - apparently, a telco with a Basic Service Operator (BSO) license cannot offer value-added-services like IPTV, reports Business Standard. Readers should keep in mind that there’s no mention of the letter on TRAIs website, and in the past, such letters sent to private telcos have been mentioned as a press release on the site.

Currently, Universal Access Service License (UASL) holders and ISPs are allowed to provide the service, and MTNL doesn’t have a UASL. BS adds that MTNL will have to pay Rs. 401 crore for one. MTNLs IPTV service has gotten only 6000 customers since launch, and they’re targeting 50,000 customers this year...and pigs will fly. IPTV, despite the technology, has missed crucial deadlines for switchover from analog to digital services, and the delay in regulation has been its bane. Reliance and Bharti are expected to launch their IPTV services this year, but I sense that they’ll push more for DTH. See our IPTV channel for more.