Telcos Ask For 74 Percent FDI Limit For Mobile TV
By Nikhil Pahwa - Thu 18 Oct 2007 09:38 PM PST
Increasing competition between digital platforms appears to be pushing towards a single law governing digital services. A couple of days ago, TRAI announced that it was recommending 74 percent FDI for HITS, up from 49 percent. Today, DNA reports that the GSM and CDMA associations - COAI and AUSPI - have told TRAI to institute an FDI cap of 74 percent for mobile TV operators, in line with the FDI limit for telecom companies - a demand for “a level playing field”. The Department of Space has supported this, stressing that the FDI cap for all services should be aligned, in line with the “trend” of 74 percent. DTH operator DishTV, however, has asked for the FDI limit to be 49 percent, on par with broadcasting services like DTH. There appears to be only one way out of this - I don’t think FDI limits for telecom will be reduced, so it’s likely that the amount of FDI limit for DTH, Cable, HITS, ISPs and Mobile TV will be 74 percent.
