(11 October 2007 7:00 pm)

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has received the audit report on Quality of Service (QoS) in mandated Cas (conditional access system) zones for the three metros from the Broadcast Engineers India Consultancy Ltd.

Though refusing to divulge details, sources in Trai indicate that extension of Cas in Mumbai, Delhi and Kolkata is a clear possibility following the report.

The officials also denied reports that there could be upward revision of pay channel prices, as was stated in a media report this week. "There is "nothing on our radars regarding that or about lifting the price cap especially for sports broadcasters," they said.

The officials said that the contents of the reports would be presented to the top mandarins of the Authority and nothing could be disclosed before that, but indicated that extension of mandated Cas, as ordered by the Delhi High Court, could be on the anvil.

"We do not know what decision the government would take about when to roll out the extension, but we see no problem as such," officials said.

"We had been extremely tied up with the issues of non-Cas area tariff, then mobile TV and HITS, and now since all these are almost complete, we are now internally studying the issue of extension of Cas in the metros, which I think is quite possible," one official stated.

Trai will release the recommendations on HITS and mobile TV very soon, one of them early next week and the other by the end of the month, and the recommendations will be sent to the government. Trai does not have the authority to issue regulations on these.

Meanwhile, when asked about the statement by broadcasters that the non-Cas area tariff is an 'insane, unenforceable' directive, the officials said: "We respect opinions and they have said what they feel is right, but we have no comments on offer."

However, asked whether the MSOs have not been overenthusiastic in terming the order as 'revolutionary' the official said: "The truly revolutionary aspect is that we have made a la carte available to the MSOs and LCOs, and saved the consumer from over-burden."

He admitted that in the non-Cas areas, the subscribers will not be able to take channels a la carte "because the addressable technology is not there, unlike in the Cas areas", but said that this is a "purely technological issue".

The indication that derives is that it is now up to the MSOs and LCOs to ensure that they in their turn do not over-burden the subscribers by receiving a la carte but passing on the channels in bundles of their making.

The hint from Trai is clear: MSOs must realise the competition from direct-to-home (DTH) and other platforms and give the subscribers the best choice they can possibly offer.