In a statement issued late on Thursday evening, TRAI, which is also the telecom regulator, quoted the I&B ministry press release issued two days ago which had said "all TRAI regulations for Digital Addressable Cable TV System (DAS) will come into effect from 1st November, 2012," and refuted it.
TRAI said these regulations had to come into force before digitalisation of cable services can be achieved.
"It is hereby clarified that the date of coming into effect of any regulation/tariff order of TRAI is as prescribed by TRAI and mentioned in the respective Regulation/ tariff order," TRAI said.
Speaking on the condition of anonymity, a senior TRAI official said that by stating that implementation of TRAI regulations had been postponed, the Ministry had unintentionally opened the doors for delay in enforcement of even those regulations which were the basis of digitalisation.
"A clarification had to be issued because the wording of the press statement could create legal challenges for us in future," the senior official said.
TRAI's clarification pointed to the "contradiction" in the I&B ministry's statement by saying the implementation of regulations could not be postponed as they had already come into force from the date of publication in the official gazette.
"The Tariff order and Regulations issued for DAS have come into force from the date of its publication in the official gazette i.E. Interconnection Regulations and Tariff order (amendment) on 30th April 2012 and Quality of service Regulations, Consumer Complaint Redressal Regulations and Interconnection Regulation (amendment) on 14th May 2012," TRAI said. (More)
