STB rules may boost Indian DTH

[BGonaSTICK]

India’s telecoms regulator may have overnight given DTH services a huge prospective boost, by ordering operators allow subscribers to rent set-top boxes.

The Telecoms Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued quality of service regulations requiring the country’s three existing and four prospective DTH operators allow subs to either buy, rent or hire-purchase set-top boxes. In addition, TRAI may “prescribe suitable schemes in this regard in future if necessary”.

Current practice is for operators to charge prospective subscribers to buy boxes outright. That makes DTH services less accessible than cable services, which rent equipment out to subscribers.

Operators will also have to refund hire-purchase subscribers if they choose to return set-tops and dishes. They must also “not disable the set top box if the subscriber has opted out of his service. This will enable the DTH subscriber to use the STB for receiving other DTH services.”

TRAI already requires that DTH operators set-top boxes are technically interoperable.

The new regulations also require that operators do not raise the fee for a subscriber’s package for six months after they have subscribed to it.

Source: RapidTV