The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has recommended that all set-top boxes in the country must be interoperable, meaning that consumers would be able to use the same set-top box across the different DTH or cable TV providers.
The regulator has also suggested that the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting should introduce the required amendments in the licensing and registration conditions to make interoperability mandatory.
“The lack of interoperability of set-top boxes between different service providers not only deprives customer of the freedom to change her/his service provider but also creates a hindrance to technological innovation, improvement in service quality, and overall sector growth,” TRAI said.
It noted that while the set-top boxes (STBs) deployed by cable TV networks were non interoperable, those used by direct-to-home (DTH) players comply with licence conditions to support common interface module based interoperability. However, in practice, even in the DTH segment the STBs were not readily interoperable.
“Ministry of Information and Broadcasting may include a suitable clause/ condition in the permission/ Registration/ Cable Television Network Rule mandating all the DPOs (DTH as well as MSOs) to compulsorily facilitate service provisioning through the interoperable STBs either provided by DPOs or procured by the consumers from open market,” it recommended.
Noting that there were technical and commercial constraints to a universal STB, it added that the interoperability should be platform specific: STBs should be interoperable within the cable TV segment and similarly within the DTH segment.
TRAI has also recommended that a Coordination Committee should be set up by the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, with members from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology, TRAI, Bureau of Indian Standards and representatives of TV manufacturers to steer implementation of revised STB standards for both the DTH and the cable TV segments.
“Further, the committee may maintain continuous oversight for setting up of the digital TV standards by BIS to provide for Digital Video Broadcasting Common Interface Plus (DVB CI+) 2.0 port based on ETSI (European Telecommunications Standards Institute) TS 103 605 standards and to have provision for reception of both DTH and cable TV signals,” it said.
