No action has been taken on cable operators as Tariff Amendment Order 2020 has been challenged before several High Courts, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar told Lok Sabha on Friday.
In reply to a question in Lok Sabha regarding whether cable operators were passing the benefits of the new tariff regulation to the consumers or not, and if not the number of cases that came to the notice of the TRAI and action taken against such cable operators, Information and Broadcasting Minister Prakash Javadekar said that the amendments to the Tariff Order, Interconnection Regulation and Quality of Service notified on 01.01.2020 have been challenged before several High Courts.
While no High Court has till now stayed NTO 2.0, the Kerala High Court had earlier asked the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to refrain from taking any action against the members of All India Digital Cable Federation (AIDCF) in case they are found violating the Tariff Amendment Order 2020 which was released by the regulator on January 1.
More than a week post the Tariff Amendment Order 2020 came into force, Siti Network, InDigital Cable and Thamizhaga Cable TV Communication Pvt Ltd (TCCL) remain the only cable operators which have complied with the amended tariff regulations and passed on the benefits to its customers. InDigital Cable slashed the rates of around 20 curated packs to comply with NTO 2.0. While DTH operators have revised their Network Capacity Fee in line with NTO 2.0, major cable operators continue to offer the old NCF. It remains to be seen if other cable operators will follow the suit or await the judgement from the High Court.
