Indian TV Viewers Could Soon Switch Service Provider with Ease

[Gumansinh]

Soon, Indian TV viewers would have the advantage of mobile portability where the consumer is free to choose the provider and switch to another one.
Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said in New Delhi on Wednesday that the ministry is working towards bringing in "interoperability" to the Set Top Boxes whereby customers would be able to change their service providers by just putting in a new card instead of having to buy a new Set Top Box every time.
Chairing the first meeting of the Task Force for Cable Digitisation for phases three and four at Vigyan Bhavan, the minister stressed that the customer should get full benefit of digitisation with high quality picture and good service and all at affordable prices.
Javadekar said that Phase III would be over by end 2015 and Phase IV by 2016 end.
The two phases would see the cable TV digitisation process spreading towards villages.
He said the Task Force would meet regularly with representatives of all stakeholders, including the service providers and consumers, and also monitor the progress of the digitisation.
He said the process of cable TV digitisation is part of Prime Minister Narendra Modi's dream of a Digital India and "we will go ahead full speed".
"Like the portability of the mobile phone, the viewers should also have similar options with the Set Top Boxes. They should be able to put in any card of choice (of service provider) on the Set Top Box," he said.
The Task Force is to deliberate on ways to bring in interoperability to the STBs, he added.
He also urged that STBs should be affordably priced for the benefit of the consumer.
He said that domestic manufacturers can produce the boxes at competitive rates with the telecom ministry having declared the equipment as Telecom Network Equipment.
He said with this move, for which he said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad had moved very fast to get it done, the manufacturers would get a level playing field with the foreign manufacturers. For phases I and II, the STBs had been mostly imported.
Javadekar said that 16 crore TV sets would have been digitized by the end of the fourth phase.
Under the earlier plan for digitization, the third phase was to end by September this year and the fourth phase by Dec 31, 2014.
The total number of TV households in India is around 160 million. The first and second phases of cable digitization covered all the metros and 38 cities with a population of over one million.

 

[HOUSE-MD]

Excellent, by this way if STB are available in the market then subscribers may get the best affordable brand and switch between service providers without any issue.

Many in DAS Phase 1 City Chennai stayed out of acquiring STB as they fear of keep paying full for new STB when MSO changes, had STB with interoperability been available then at-least 75% of the analogue users would have switched to DAS/CAS as buying a new card from an LCO is much cheaper and better than buying a whole STB every time at full cost.

 

[Thakur]

Smooth cable & dth switch

Cable TV and DTH subscribers will have the option of switching
operators without having to change their set-top boxes.
Information and broadcasting minister Prakash Javadekar announced the plan today, citing the example of portability in cellphones under which customers change service-providers but not their numbers.

Javadekar said the Centre was working towards a system under which TV subscribers too would be able to change operators by merely
inserting a new card instead of having to buy a new set-top box.

“Like the portability of the mobile phone (number), viewers should have options with set-top boxes.

They should be able to put in
any card (of the service provider) of their choice into the box,” the minister said after chairing a meeting of a task force on cable TV
digitisation.

The Centre recently asked regulator Trai to explore how set-top box “inter-operability”
could be made possible.

“Inter-operability will give the customer flexibility to change the operator without having to change the equipment.

It will only require changing a smart card, as in mobile phones,” said a ministry official.
At the meeting, Javadekar reviewed the progress of the third and fourth phases of cable digitisation — which ensures better
picture and sound quality and more channels — that will see the change spread to villages from the big cities covered in the first two
stages.

The task force will suggest ways to bring in set-top box inter operability and price them
affordably.

The Centre has urged domestic manufacturers to produce such boxes at competitive rates,with the telecom ministry formally declaring
the devices “network equipment”.

Javadekar said the tag would offer local manufacturers a level-playing field with foreign makers.

For the first two phases of digitisation, the set-top boxes were mostly imported, with duty rates lowered to make them affordable.

http://www.telegraphindia.com/1141009/jsp/nation/story_18908411.jsp

 

[M.J.Sadiq]

RE: Smooth cable & dth switch

Same news is here as well.


Indian TV Viewers Could Soon Switch Service Provider with Ease


..

 

[ratedr]

I&B moots facility to switch operator without changing set top box

Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar on Wednesday suggested that TV viewers should have the facility of switching cable service operators without changing the set to boxes.
Addressing the first meeting of Task Force for Cable Digitization (Phase III and Phase IV), he proposed “interoperability” of the set top boxes (STBs) whereby customers could change their service providers by putting in a new card instead of buying new STBs.
Citing telecom sector’s example, Javadekar said that a consumer can choose not just the handset, also the service provider. “But the consumer is not being given this freedom with regard to STBs. Why does he have to buy the STB that the multi-system operator asks him to? If there is interoperability of STBs, it will be such a good thing,” the minister said.
Calling upon manufacturers to innovate and explore new technologies for addressing tastes and needs of different consumers, the I&B Minister said that in the next phase of digitisation, “the price mechanism offered to the consumer would be a key determinant of the process”. Noting that the cable TV digitisation process was aimed at providing consumers with greater choices, and quality options, Javadekar said the overall objective was to be sensitive to the needs and choice of the consumers. The Ministry has set a deadline of December 2015 for Phase III and December 2016 for Phase IV of Digitisation. By the end of Phase IV, the entire country would get covered by digitisation
Source http://indianexpress.com/article/india/india-others/ib-moots-facility-to-switch-operator-without-changing-set-top-box/

 

[Thakur]

RE: I&B moots facility to switch operator without changing set top box

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