(Updated on 8 April 2008 11:30 pm)
(8 April 2008 5:30 pm)

NEW DELHI: The government today said that it is keen on extending Cas (conditional access system) in a phased manner and will shortly convene a 'focused meeting' to deal with some important issues before announcing the dates for implementation.

This was the outcome of a large meeting held under the aegis of Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, sources said, adding that the extension will take place first in the remaining parts of the three metros and then across 55 other designated cities.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said that though there remained issues of piracy and QoS (quality of service), these could be solved as one went along, sources said. Incidentally, Trai has been very vocal in stressing that Cas should be extended.

However, the government has not unveiled any date for Cas extension.

On the issue of piracy, Trai held that it was inevitable unless the entire areas under the three metros were brought under Cas at one go.

Trai said at the meeting that in future, no city should be brought under Cas in long drawn phases, for announcing the rollout for the entire city at one go is the solution for piracy.

The most vocal about piracy was Delhi State Government, which said that the revenue growth from the mandated Cas areas of the city had not shown the remarkable jump that it had expected. This proved that piracy was prevailing and needed to be handled first.

Of the six states called, Gujarat, West Bengal and Karnataka supported the extension of Cas. Delhi, Haryana and Tamil Nadu said they did not favour this.

While it may be recalled that Trai had always maintained that incidence of piracy was there but not at an alarming rate, the Cable Operators Federation of India president Roop Sharma said that there is spillage and theft in any industry, but this did not mean that it be closed down.

There was an issue where the question was raised whether the MSOs (multi-system operators) would give away set-top boxes (STBs) on a security deposit being kept but no rental being charged, to which the MSOs said that would not be affordable.

"Asking the MSOs to spend Rs 3,000 on boxes and charge nothing from subscribers would drive us broke," MSO Alliance president Ashok Mansukhani said, adding that the government should subsidise this.

The MSOs said that the government should subsidise the STBs in the interest of digitalisation.

Sharma, however, raised the demand of setting up a Digital Services Obligation Fund to be set up, with a percentage of fees and licenses paid by broadcasters, MSOs and LCOs (local cable operators) to the government. With that money, ths STBs should be attempted to be given free.

The government said that Cas extension will have to take place and piracy and other issues will be tackled on the way, sources said.

Representatives of broadcasters, cable operators, MSOs and consumer organisations, as well chief secretaries of a large number of states were present, though some state governments stayed away from the meeting, it is learnt.

The consumer organisation Voice said that digitalisation was supportable if consumers get the value for their money. They demanded that under Cas now, subscribers are getting a fixed number of FTA (free-to-air) channels, and no choice exists, which they must be given.

To this Trai said that for that FTAs could only be given in encrypted form through STBs, something that insiders say Trai has been working on with a view to pushing digitsalisation.

The three metros will see a two-phased extension, with six months to go for the first phase extension from the day of notification, and three months to go for the second phase of extension after the implementation of first phase extension.

The extension for the 55 cities would be completed by 2011, sources said.

However, though the extension will be in a phased manner, the announcement would be made at one go for all the dates, sources said.

At a point in the discussion a leading foreign broadcaster said that Cas should not be rolled out in a hurry, but Mansukhani said that the broadcaster is changing its position since it itself is a part of the government's Cas roll out committee.

The government did not set up a deadline, but said that a smaller group would meet and sort out some issues like how to tackle piracy and solve billing and QoS issues. A date for the first phase of roll out would be declared only after this.