Now watch TV on your Mobile! ( MTNL Mumbai)

I remember one of my professors, Mr Divakar Kamath, saying in one of his lectures that for many in India mobile will become the first screen. Seems like the day has somewhat arrived. Who would have thought that the ubiquitous mobile would one day be used for watching TV. It is the stuff of science fiction now turning true!

The last effort at such dream was made when mobiles incorporated DVB-H technology, an acronym for digital video broadcast- handheld. This technology was officially endorsed by the EU as the preferred technology for terrestrial mobile broadcasting. Most probably this technology also saw its use in India, in the capital city of Delhi, though in a limited way. And then came its nemesis : 3G.

The onset of 3G era (it hasn't started yet in its full earnestness) has changed the rules of the game tremendously. 3G allows simultaneous use of speech and data services and higher data rates (up to 14.0 Mbit/s on the downlink and 5.8 Mbit/s on the uplink with HSPA+)[Wikipedia]. Moreover it is supposed to provide a minimum data rate of 2 Mbit/s for stationary or walking users, and 348 kbit/s in a moving vehicle.This fact has made it possible to watch TV on mobile screens.


Currently only the government telecom service providers are working with 3G. And I happen to be subscribed to one such operator: MTNL Mumbai. This coincidence has left me using 3G servises for more than two months, and it was only today that I thought of subscribing to mobile tv. In India the service is provided by Apalya technologies and their website is : http://www.mimobi.tv/  


How to watch TV(MTNL Mumbai) :
Step 1: Sms MOBILETV to 53388
Step 2: You will receive a WAP link/service message in your inbox. Click on the same and download the MTNLTV application
Step 3: Install the application in the phone memory of your handset
Step 4: Click on the application and open it to see the TV channel logos. Choose the channel you want to watch and click on its icon.
Step 5: You will see the subscription packages available as given below. Choose the option that suits you.Step 6: You will receive a confirmation that your registration has been successful. Now click on the channel and watch the content. 


The subscription options are cheesy to say the least. You can watch 29 channels[ aaj tak,ndtv, india tv, cnn, espn, times now, cnn ibn, bbc world, cnbc tv18, star news, total, headlines today, ndtv profit, ndtv hindi, zee news, ibn7, star one, pogo, cartoon network, ftv, utv, bindass, wwf, and some( 4 or 5) inconsequential ones] at the cost of Rs 150 per month(1) or you can subscribe to an individual channel foe Rs 50 per month (2) or an individual channel at the cost of Rs 10 per day(3). Obviously the die is a bit loaded towards the first option.


So after downloading the application (668kb) from the wap link send by mtnl, i saw a menu with various channel logos. I promptly subscribed to option one which after one successful attempt again showed my subscription status to be void(thankfully i hadn't lost any money). I am going to try it again after some time. I am planning to catch any show on BBC World and after that budget highlights on CNN-IBN. Lets see how it peters out. I am willing to go through some heartburn (always true in the case of onset of new technology), but let's hope it is not too much.


P.S. Look out for 4G technology.... It promises 1 Gbit/s for stationary and 100 Mbit/s for mobile operation. Arthur Clarke hit the nail on its head when he said, " Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic".