Samsung and Qualcomm oppose India’s push for live TV on smartphones

Letters reviewed by Reuters reveal that Samsung and Qualcomm are opposing India’s push for live TV on smartphones. Both companies argue that required hardware changes will push up a device’s cost by $30, which couldn’t be good for both maker and buyer.

Notably, India is about to mandate equipping smartphones with hardware to receive live TV signals without the need for networks. ATSC 3.0 technology, which is popular in North America, is said to be equipped in Indian phones to enable precise geo-locating of TV signals.

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In a joint letter to India’s communication ministry, Samsung, Qualcomm, and telecom gear makers Ericsson and Nokia said adding direct-to-mobile broadcasting can also degrade the battery performance of devices and cellular reception, reports Business Standard.

The live TV broadcast features are a way to offload the congestion on telecom networks due to higher video consumption. The policy pushback is the latest from the companies operating in the Indian smartphone sector, with Samsung tops India’s smartphone market with a 17.2% share.