New Delhi, July 8 (IANS) The Telecommunication Engineering Centre (TEC), the technical arm of the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), on Wednesday signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with Broadcast Engineering Consultants India Limited (BECIL) to jointly undertake studies, technical contributions and standardisation activities in convergence and broadcasting technologies.

The collaboration is aimed at strengthening India’s capabilities in developing standards and driving innovation in converged and broadcasting technologies, while supporting the government’s flagship initiatives such as Digital India and Aatmanirbhar Bharat.

Under the agreement, TEC and BECIL will work together on developing India-specific standards and testing frameworks, studying international standards, contributing to global standardisation bodies and exploring emerging technologies in the broadcasting and convergence ecosystem.

The MoU was signed in New Delhi by Devendra Singh, Deputy Director General, TEC, and Ramit Lala, Deputy General Manager (Projects), BECIL, in the presence of Syed Tausif Abbas, Senior Deputy Director General and Head of TEC.

The partnership establishes a formal framework for collaboration between the two organisations on research, technical studies and standards development in advanced broadcasting and convergence technologies.

As part of the collaboration, the organisations will jointly study and contribute to technologies such as Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) broadcasting and 5G Broadcast, which are expected to enhance the delivery of multimedia content directly to mobile devices. They will also work on Digital Rights Management (DRM) systems for IPTV and other content distribution platforms, Digital Sound Broadcasting (DSB), and Conditional Access Systems (CAS) along with Subscriber Management Systems (SMS) used by television service providers.

The MoU also covers research on future broadcast and network technologies, including Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service (FeMBMS), application accessibility to promote digital inclusion, intelligent user interfaces for broadcasting services, and artificial intelligence-enabled capabilities over integrated broadband cable networks.

In addition, TEC and BECIL will hold need-based technical consultations on issues referred by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the Department of Telecommunications and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), providing expert recommendations on emerging technologies and policy-related matters.

The collaboration is also expected to strengthen India’s participation in international standardisation efforts through joint technical contributions to global organisations such as the International Telecommunication Union’s Telecommunication Standardization Sector (ITU-T), Radiocommunication Sector (ITU-R) and the 3rd Generation Partnership Project (3GPP).

–IANS

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