(17 April 2009 11:05 pm)

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has extended the date for consultation paper seeking views regarding value added services (Vas), platform services and carriage of radio channels on the direct-to-home (DTH) platform till 24 April.

Earlier, the date for receiving comments from the stakeholders on "DTH issues relating to tariff regulation and new issues" under reference from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, was extended to 14 April from 30 March, on the request of stakeholders.

The date has been extended again following further requests pointing out the complexity of the subject. The authority has also scheduled open house discussions on the subject on 29 April at New Delhi and on 5 May at Pune.

The issues falling under the ambit of debate include carriage fee, tariff between broadcasters and DTH operators and their subscribers. Questions such as the need for a cap on carriage fee across the DTH operators have also been raised.

The regulator wants stakeholders to comment on whether tariff regulation for DTH at wholesale level should be in terms of laying down relationship between the prices of channels/ bouquets for non-addressable platforms and the prices of such channels/ bouquets for DTH platform.