New Delhi: Emboldened by successful tech demonstrations at various locations, the Central government has decided to roll out the home-grown direct-to-mobile (D2M) technology at 19 cities for vigorous trial of offering internet connectivity to mobile users without using mobile network or sim card.
The D2M broadcasting technology allows mobile users to stream videos without an internet connection or a SIM card. Last year, pilot projects were undertaken in Bengaluru, Kartavya Path and Noida to test the technology.
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Talking to media persons at a broadcasting summit, secretary, Union Information and Broadcasting ministry, Apurva Chandra said trials of the home-grown D2M technology would soon be held in 19 cities. He also strongly advocated allocation of spectrum bandwidth of 470-582 MHz for this emerging technology.
“There are over 80 crore smartphones in the country and 69% of content accessed by users is in video format. Heavy use of video often leads to clogging of mobile networks, which makes the users experience buffering of content during streaming,” added Chandra.
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He said that 5-G network will be significantly unclogged if the new technology manages to take away 25-30% of video traffic through D2M technology. “The shift in traffic to D2M from conventional radio network will accelerate the nation’s digital evolution and democratise content delivery,” said Chandra.
The secretary claimed that 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.
What is the D2M broadcasting technology?
The D2M broadcasting technology has been developed by Saankhya Labs and IIT Kanpur. This technology uses existing land-based communication systems and special frequencies assigned to public broadcasters to send video, audio, and data signals straight to mobile phones and smart devices that can handle them.
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The tech has the potential to reach over a billion mobile devices. Its adoption 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.
