The final deadline of August 23 set by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) for Digital Addressable Cable TV Systems implementation in Kolkata was unlikely to be achieved, according to local cable operators.
"We want to implement subscriber management system for DAS implementation. But, with such short notice it is just not possible to achieve it," Swapan Chowdhury of Cable Operators Federation of India said.
"We do not think that more than 50-60 per cent of the consumers can be brought under SMS by August 23," he said.
Asked whether the deadline would be achieved, Sudip Ghosh of Manthan MSO said, "Lets see."
He said that so far MSOs were not asked to extend the deadline. Till now 30-35 per cent of total 30 lakh cable connections were completed under the DAS process.
Chowdhury said Trai did not consult local cable operators on implementation which led to some delays.
"We are the first contact of consumers and will seek protection from the state administration as there may be law and order issues if connections are switched off," he said.
Trai member R K Arnold said that the August 23 deadline would be strictly adhered to.
"We are not going to extend the deadline beyond August 23. In this if subscriber details including channel preferences are not done, connection is liable to be disconnected," he said.
A customer would need to submit personal details and channel preference or package to keep television sets alive.
According to consumers, under the new DAS system the monthly bill was set to rise between 30-50 per cent if most, not all, channels were retained in the DAS era.
