Consumers dissatisfied with the
services of their direct-to-home (DTH) operator may soon be able to
shift to another one without having to change the set-top box.
The Centre has
asked the-Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to explore how set-top
box (STB) inter-operability can be effectively made possible.
Technical
inter-operability will give the customer flexibility to change the
service provider without having to change the customer premises
equipment. It will only require changing a smart card, as in mobile
communications.
I&B ministry officials said TRAI had released a recommendation paper last week on a new DTH licensing regime.
“In the paper, the
authority has said STB inter-operability is not possible at present
because of different technologies adopted by operators at different
times of entering the market. They have asked the bureau of Indian
standards (BIS) to regularly update the standard of STB technology,”
said a senior official.
“We have now asked for recommendations on how portability of DTH set-top boxes can be done easily.”
This would be a step forward, in line with the practice prevailing in the global market.
Under the existing
DTH rules too, set-top boxes have to inter-operable. But DTH operators
have not ensured this, flouting licensing terms.
Some DTH operators
have argued that set-top box inter-operability should be kept out of
licensing guidelines. Dish TV, Tata Sky, Videocon d2h, Reliance Digital
TV and Airtel Digital TV have claimed that achieving inter-operability
is difficult because of varying technologies adopted by DTH operators
and is commercially unviable.
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