DTH providers cash in on CAS confusion

The Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers are cashing in on the confusion over the implementation the Conditional Access System (CAS) in some areas of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

Both Tata Sky and Dish TV are flooded with queries for DTH connections from hassled consumers. Industry sources say over 20,000 consumers in the three metros have called up for DTH connections in the last two days, in comparison with an average of 6,000-8,000 calls that the call centres of Tata Sky and Dish TV receive every day.

For CAS-notified cities, non-availability of adequate number of set-top boxes (STBs) continued to trouble the 7.5-8 lakh consumers.

According to Roop Sharma, president, Cable Operators Federation of India (COFI), over two lakh STBs have been installed in CAS-notified areas of Delhi and Mumbai, and there was no "shortfall". "If consumers don't want to opt for STBs, we cannot be blamed," she said.

According to the industry sources, close to one lakh STBs have been seeded in the three metro cities. Enquiries for two lakh STBs have been made with various cable operators in Delhi and Mumbai. It would take at least 3-4 weeks to fulfill the demand, an industry source told Business Standard.

"In all, close to 75,000 STBs have been seeded in south Delhi and south Mumbai. And these are mostly the boxes imported during 2003, when CAS was notified for the first time. We still need a lot of STBs," Vikki Choudhry, president of the National Cable & Telecom Association (NCTA) and an independent Multi System Operator of Delhi, said.

But Jagjit Singh Kohli, CEO of Zee's cable wing, WWIL (Wire & Wireless India Ltd), had a different story to tell.

"We at WWIL have become the largest MSO in the CAS-notified areas of Mumbai by seeding 70,000 STBs. We were not present in these areas before. In all, the industry has seeded over 2.5 lakh STBs so far," Kohli told Business Standard.

"All the consumers who had booked their STBs by December 20 have managed to get it installed. The last two days have witnessed a sudden demand for DTH equipment," a Delhi-based electronics dealer said.