Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday recommended 100 per cent foreign ownership in satellite radio services and no entry and licence fee for the time being.
In its recommendations to the government, Trai said, "It will be desirable to provide a licensing framework now itself so that there is no uncertainty in the future."
There should not be any entry fee unless there was excess demand for the available spectrum space in which case tenders may be invited on lines recommended for FM radio, Trai said, adding government should not levy any annual licence fee as long as terrestrial repeaters were not permitted.
"Once these repeaters are permitted a revenue share of four per cent of gross revenue generated in India should be imposed as has already been recommended for FM radio," the regulator said.
On the technical front, the regulator said that it should be mandatory for satellite radio operators to provide addressability to every subscriber, which is capable of blocking unwanted channel or group of channels.
According to Trai there should be only one licence for carriage and the licencee would be responsible to the licensor for content regulation. AIR programme code and advertisement code should be made applicable to satellite radio also.
Trai had brought out a consultation paper on the subject last year and based on response from the stakeholders, the regulator has given its recommendations.
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