(11 August 2007 3:25 pm)

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has assigned the task of auditing the data on quality of service (QoS) given by various multi-system operators (MSOs) in the three Cas (conditional access system) cities of Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata.

The regulator is also launching a survey to assess why some people have not taken set-top boxes (STBs) in the mandated Cas areas.

The audit assignment has been granted to Broadcast Engineers Consultancy India Ltd, and it has been asked to submit its report within the next two months.

The Indian Institute of Mass Communication, on the other hand, has been identified as the agency for conducting the survey on STBs.

Trai officials had told Indiantelevision.com after the first 60 days of Cas rollout that it was very serious about quality of service and if it thought that the data presented by MSOs was incorrect or open to question, it would launch an independent inquiry.

Asked whether this is the causal factor behind the auditing now in process, officials sidestepped and refused to comment on whether Trai has found at least some of the data disputable, saying, "only the audit would come out with what the position is."

In fact, the Information & Broadcasting ministry has said that it would extend Cas to the remaining pockets of the three metros only after satisfying itself with a QoS survey.

Asked whether the ministry had exchanged views on this with Trai, the official said that there was nothing officially communicated to it so far.

The Trai official also corroborated the ministry's response to the MSO Alliance on the issue of digital rollout in 55 cities. "The ministry is right in saying that the papers are still with us as the consultation period during which comments have to be received from stakeholders ends only later this month. We can process the paper only after that and then send our recommendations to the ministry," said the official.

Trai officials in the broadcast sector, it is learnt, have been extremely busy through the past few weeks, working on Headend-In-The-Sky (HITS) and then mobile TV, as the consultation paper for the first has been issued and the one for mobile TV is being up, for which internal presentations have been made this week.