New Consultation Paper to Patch NTO Will Not Make Major Changes: Trai Advisor

Both the DTH operators and the broadcasters in the Indian DTH and broadcasting industry have been wary of the new consultation paper which the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) is going to bring for the industry. The industry has taken a beating during its transition from the older pricing pattern in the DTH industry to the new one which was introduced at the start of this year. However, Trai has assured the DTH operators and the broadcasters that it won’t be making big changes to the National Tariff Order (NTO) which it introduced earlier this year. In a new update, Trai advisor, Arvind Kumar said on the sidelines of Video and Broadband Summit (VBS) that Trai is seeking to patch up some infirmities in the earlier National Tariff Order (NTO) and it will not make any major changes to the fundamental rules laid down in the National Tariff Order.

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Trai Advisor Defends New Consultation Paper

“Broadcasters should rest assured that the new consultation paper will not seek to decide their channel prices. The only objective of the new consultation paper is to open a debate on how the NTO is impacting the industry and to address some of the infirmities in the NTO.” Kumar said. It is crucial to note that the new consultation paper that has been introduced for the reformation of the new tariff regime has been criticised by the industry and the industry stakeholders because the consultation paper was released just months later after the implementation of the new tariff regime. The dust was only settling, and the subscribers had just transitioned to the new tariff regime when Trai started talking about reforms in the new tariff regime, and how there could be more changes. This drew some critical eyes from the industry, which had faced the blow of the new tariff regime.