Allowing domestic manufacturers more time to meet the demand for Set Top Boxes (STBs), Government has extended the deadline for its Digitisation drive by upto two years.
Information and Broadcasting ministry has issued a notification as per which the deadline for the areas which came Phase III of the Digitisation drive has been extended from September 30, 2014 to December 31, 2015.
For Phase IV, the deadline is now December 31, 2016 from December 31, 2014.
The government had embarked on a phase wise approach to Digitise the cable sector with Phase I and II focussing on the major cities and when the Phase IV of Digitisation is achieved, the entire country would be covered, officials said.
The digitisation of the cable sector requires an installation of STBs and it was estimated that crores of STBs would be needed for the Phase III and IV of the Digitisation drive. However most of the demand for STBs that arose in the first two phases of Digitisation was met by imported STBs.
After he took over as the I&B minister Prakash Javadekar had worked towards "indigenisation" of the Digitisation drive, officials said. They added that the move will give more time to domestic manufacturers to meet the demand for STBs.
