Reliance Jio opposes abolition of DTH license fee

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Reliance Jio opposes abolition of DTH license fee
The telecom giant contends that such a move would be disadvantageous to cable TV and result in a loss to the national exchequer.

In a submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) pre-consultation paper for the National Broadcasting Policy (NBP), Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by Mukesh Ambani, has argued against the abolition of license fees for direct-to-home (DTH) operators. The telecom giant contends that such a move would be disadvantageous to cable TV and result in a loss to the national exchequer.

TRAI had recommended eliminating the license fee for DTH operators after FY27, aligning them with other distribution platforms like cable TV, HITS, IPTV, and OTT services. However, Reliance Jio resisted this proposal, emphasizing the competitive edge DTH gained through spectrum usage, eliminating the need for ground-based networks and allowing nationwide coverage without additional infrastructure investments



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Reliance Jio opposes abolition of DTH license fee
The telecom giant contends that such a move would be disadvantageous to cable TV and result in a loss to the national exchequer.


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By Abhinav Kumar

January 2, 2024 at 9:04 pm

2 minutes read

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In a submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) pre-consultation paper for the National Broadcasting Policy (NBP), Reliance Jio Infocomm, owned by Mukesh Ambani, has argued against the abolition of license fees for direct-to-home (DTH) operators. The telecom giant contends that such a move would be disadvantageous to cable TV and result in a loss to the national exchequer.


TRAI had recommended eliminating the license fee for DTH operators after FY27, aligning them with other distribution platforms like cable TV, HITS, IPTV, and OTT services. However, Reliance Jio resisted this proposal, emphasizing the competitive edge DTH gained through spectrum usage, eliminating the need for ground-based networks and allowing nationwide coverage without additional infrastructure investments.


Reliance Industries (RIL) owns a significant stake in India’s top three cable TV companies namely Hathway Cable and Datacom, DEN Networks, and GTPL Hathway, hence it is natural for them to seek such measures from TRAI that either promote a level playing field or give them any advantage.

Acknowledging cable TV’s infrastructure costs, Reliance Jio emphasized that DTH’s subscriber count surpassed cable TV due to spectrum availability across the country, with 65.25 million DTH subscribers compared to cable TV’s 64 million. The company argued that services leveraging spectrum, a public resource, should contribute to the national exchequer based on market-driven prices.,.