The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has sought for comments from the public on whether the NCF (Network Capacity Fee) should be increased for the users. The Direct-to-Home (DTH) service providers charge NCF on channel packs that users subscribe to. The higher the number of channels, the more NCF the user will have to pay. TRAI's decision will determine whether the NCF pricing will go up or will remain where it is today. For the DTH companies, it is a favourable notion if the pricing goes up, as they get to earn more. But the consumers who already are dropping their traditional DTH connections to shift to IPTV (Internet Protocol TV) or OTT (over-the-top) content platforms won't like the increase in prices at all.
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In the current scenario, customers are paying Rs 130 + taxes as NCF for 200 SD channels. For more than 200 SD channels, the charge is Rs 160 + taxes. According to the DTH companies, the NCF should be increased and subject to an annual revision based on the inflation index. If TRAI listens to the proposal made by the DTH companies, it could result in regular price hikes in NCF for the customers.
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Increasing the prices of the DTH connections and channel packs is the last thing that the customers want. But from the perspective of the DTH companies, it makes a little sense. DTH companies have seen their subscriber base shrink over the years; thus, now their priority isn't just to earn from scale but to earn as much as possible from each customer to normalise the revenues.
TRAI has also sought views on whether there should be different slabs for NCF for users living in rural and urban areas of the country. It is also worth noting that TRAI is also looking for views on whether the NCF charges for getting a secondary connection should also increase.
