MUMBAI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) means business and how. The regulator had called for a meeting on 19 July with the leading Multi System Operators (MSOs) that provide cable TV services in Mumbai, Kolkata and 38 cities, covered under phase-II of Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems (DAS) implementation, to review the progress.
TRAI has set the following deadlines for collection of the consumer application forms (CAFs) from the subscribers, complete in all respects, including choice of channels/services and entry of complete details in the subscriber management system (SMS), by the MSOs in these cities:-
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Sl. No.
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Cities
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Deadline
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| 1 | Municipal Council of Greater Mumbai area | 2 August 2013 |
| 2 | Kolkata Metropolitan area | 23 August 2013 |
| 3 | 38 Cities covered under phase-II of DAS implementation* | 20 September 2013 |
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*Hyderabad, Visakhapatanam, Patna, Ahmedabad, Rajkot, Surat, Vadodara, Faridabad, Srinagar, Ranchi, Bengaluru, Mysore, Bhopal, Indore, Jabalpur, Auragabad, Kalyan-Dombivili, Nagpur, Nashik, Navi-Mumbai, Pimri-Chinchwad, Pune, Sholapur, Thane, Amritsar, Ludhiana, Jaipur, Jodhpur, Coimbatore, Agra, Allahabad, Ghaziabad, Kanpur, Luknow, Meerut, Varanasi, Chandigarh, Howrah. |
TRAI has already collected 97 per cent of CAF forms from Delhi and 80 per cent from Mumbai.
Speaking to Indiantelevision.com, TRAI principal advisor Parameswaran N said, "The deadline to submit the customer application forms in Kolkata is 23 August and there will be no extension. TRAI will take an action against LCOs and MSOs who will not submit the CAFs on time."
TRAI has requested cable TV subscribers of the above mentioned areas to cooperate and submit the CAFs, complete in all respects to the respective cable operators/MSOs at the earliest, to enjoy the full benefits of digitisation. In event of failure to do so, MSOs will have no option but to switch off the signal to those consumers who have not submitted the forms, otherwise such MSOs would be in breach of the law.
Incable MD Ravi Mansukhani said, "80 per cent forms have been submitted and by the end of this month it should be 100 per cent in Mumbai."
A leading Cable operator‘s spokesperson said, "CAF forms cannot be filled in a month or two. It is a long process which will take time; LCOs have to understand that this process will increase their ARPU‘s (Average revenue per user) and at the same time the subscribers too are not educated about this issue and they would only be aware of the gravity of the situation once their connections will be downgraded."
