NGO fights for DTH portability

[Sathish]

New Delhi: The non-portability of DTH set-top boxes (STBs) has led to a situation of over 2-million ‘dead’ or deactivated DTH boxes—around 10% of the current DTH subscriber base—lying with households, causing the government to lose over Rs 500 crore in foreign exchange. Based on these findings, a Chennai-based NGO, Tamil Nadu Progressive Consumer Centre, has made a plea for DTH portability on behalf of millions of DTH consumers. It has sought the intervention of appellate tribunal TDSAT.

<img style="float: left; margin: 0px 10px 0px 0px;" src="http://static.expressindia.com/expressindia/newpic/home3.jpg" />The Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal has admitted the matter and has asked the six private DTH operators to respond within a month. TDSAT also wants the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and the information and broadcasting ministry to respond in the matter.

This means more trouble for the direct-to-home (DTH) operators, as even the Competition Commission of India has voiced support for portability of DTH boxes.

Though the DTH norms of the I&B ministry mandate DTH operators to provide portable boxes, most DTH operators have not done so, citing various reasons, including technical issues, nascent stage of business and high customer acquisition costs.

DTH portability simply means that an existing DTH consumer can change his service provider without having to buy a new DTH box and other hardware.

Source: The Financial Express

[Rdev]

DTH will soon need to provide interoperability of boxes for consumer convenience also because of the rising demand of various groups like TDSAT and Trai etc.