'India has not been seriously explored for mobile broadcasting'

In India, a debate on mobile broadcasting and conditional access of TV
content has been making the rounds, and with the operators evaluating IP-TV,
security and conditional access to content is being looked at seriously. Thierry
Raymaekers, managing director (marketing) Asia Pacific, Iredeto Access, spoke to
Anurag Prasad of CyberMedia, and gave insights into the TU Media project and how
content security can be ensured in the broadcast environment in India.

There are huge numbers of mobile and cable TV users in India. Why the
delay in mobile broadcasting then?

Indian market has not been seriously explored for mobile or conditional
broadcasting. No one has actually come here with conviction. Everyone waited for
the TU Media model to take off and now that it has been successful, it would be
implemented in other markets too. The push would come from not a single company,
rather a group of companies coming together. Handset makers like Samsung and LG
have seen the success in their home countries, and would like to replicate the
same here. There have also been failures and they have learnt from them. Also,
the operators would push it in the metros and cities where they would like their
ARPU to go up.

In China, the push has come from the state-run agencies. It is expected to
happen in a similar fashion in India. Events like the Olympics are also major
drivers for conditional access.

What type of content and consumers are you betting on here?

In Korea, a lot of market research was put in to identify the target group
and what type of content would be successful. Globally, sports, entertainment,
and adult content have been popular and India would not be much different.
However, here we have to keep the cost perspective in mind. Things like cost of
content and cost of handsets are important. Though Indians have started spending
more, still alternatives have to be kept in the plan.

Are you looking at R&D in India?

It is too early for us to comment on our investment plans in India. The
China R&D center was opened due to the challenges and requirement of local
market there. Currently, the fast-growing Asian market is catered to from this
center. There is no doubt that Iredeto wants to be close to the customers and we
do not rule out an R&D center in India. However, here the challenges of
mobile broadcasting and CAS are not known. Pilots for mobile broadcasting are
yet to take off. We want to understand the market first. We are willing to
invest in pilot projects and increase the involvement in India.