India’s Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) Phones - Free Stream Technologies, Lava International and HMD Partner Ahead of Field Trials

 On the occasion of World Audio Visual & Entertainment Summit (WAVES) 2025, FreeStream Technologies (incubated at Indian Institute of Technology (IIT), Kanpur), Lava International and HMD announce launch plans under way to meet mass consumer demand for Direct-to-Mobile (D2M) phones ahead of large-scale field trials in India.

In line with Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s clarion call for Viksit Bharat, (economic transformation of India) Direct-to-Mobile is a broadcasting technology that uses terrestrial TV broadcast airwaves to deliver live TV, video, audio & text messages (multimedia content) of public and national importance (such as entertainment, sports, educational programming and emergency alerts) directly to phones without the need for Wi-Fi or internet service.

Giving a boost to the ‘Make in India’ and ‘Design in India’ efforts, low cost featurephones, smartphones and tablets are powered by Tejas Networks (Saankhya Labs) SL-3000 D2M chipsets, as previously announced. In addition, Tejas Networks has developed a suite of infrastructure hardware and software products for D2M deployment in collaboration with Sinclair, Inc. This technology has been under test in live networks by Prasar Bharati in partnership with IIT Kanpur and Tejas Networks over the past several years.

Sumeet Nindrajog, Director of Free Stream Technologies, said, “We are pleased that Lava and HMD are doing the groundwork to rapidly create a viable device ecosystem for a nationwide deployment road map. Their willingness to supply in scale is the best vote of confidence for the future success of D2M.”

Sanjeev Agarwal, Executive Director, Lava International, said, “Our D2M featurephone design incorporates the modem and the apps in a clever way to maintain low cost, which is a hallmark of our devices.”

Ravi Kunwar, CEO & VP India & APAC, HMD India, said, “HMD has always been committed to staying ahead of the innovation curve and delivering the best consumer experience. With this philosophy at the core of our mission, we're excited to be a part of the D2M journey. This groundbreaking, first-of-its-kind platform worldwide enables our consumers to access a vast array of multimedia content.”

Parag Naik, co-founder of erstwhile Saankhya Labs and Executive Vice President, Tejas Networks, said, “The phones are powered by Saankhya’s award winning SL-3000 chipset, which is the foundational D2M enabler. We have also developed the Core Network platform that will enable delivery of targeted ads, CDN offload, educational content, emergency alerts and other apps that will empower the consumers furthering PM Modi’s vision of a digitally empowered India.”

Chris Ripley, President and CEO, Sinclair, Inc., said, “Large scale adoption of ATSC 3.0 in affordable mobile devices vindicates Sinclair’s forethought in leading US and global deployment of this broadcast standard as ‘mobile first’ and in investing in Made by India technology. To meet future 6G goals, we are spearheading the next release of the standard – ‘Broadcast to Everything’ (B2X) which will unleash next generation broadcast apps for numerous verticals.”