MNP (mobile number portability) has been talk of the nation specially since the date of implementation is nearing but the same regime seems to be returning to telemedia sector too. Afaqs reports that Competition Commission of India (CCI) is currently pursuing a proposal to regulate and force the DTH industry to offer inter-operable boxes to their subscribers.
This whole debacle of competitive monopoly arose when a user filed a complaint in the forum regarding the unholy approach adopted by DTH operators in India. Even CCI found merit in such complaints and thus is working on a report to disallow such practices.
Currently DTH operators provide set top boxes coupled with heavy subsidy in the initial phase to subscribers. Even after completing years of loyal use subscribers are not given any choice whatsoever to change their DTH operators. This is a practice which limits competition as subscribers are not allowed to change the operators despite unnecessary charges or bad service. The limitation is largely due to the Non inter-operable boxes provided by some DTH operators to fend off any competition in future.
Afaqs also reports citing a lawyer that if DTH operators are found guilty of any uncompetitive activity from there side they may be fined 10 per cent of the revenues of last three financial years. If CCI were indeed to go for such practice then subscribers may switch to New DTH operators by installing an add-on device transcoder worth around Rs.400- 600 at subsidized rates.
What DTH operators say?
DTH operators like Dish TV and Tata Sky have said that they are already inter-operable in line with the DTH licensing norms. Dish TV has even conveyed that their boxes are technically and commercially inter-operable according to BIS specifications but not with Big TV, Sun Direct or Digital TV which use MPEG 4 boxes for which guidelines have not been set.
This practice if stopped may pelt huge competition for DTH operators and could also strike a New price war among them to retain their customers.This practise is simply unethical as many subscribers by taking DTH connection feel permanently obliged to DTH operators. DTH operators are gaining a lot of customers now as even IPTV was not able to deter the DTH industry. Currently many new DTH operators are also in the fray to enter the market apart from already huge list of Dish TV, Tata Sky, Big TV, Sun Direct and Airtel Digital TV.
The rule may help in increasing DTH subscriber count as aspiring subscribers would feel confident regarding the service. Many people in India avoid going for DTH services unless absolute necessary as they don’t want to fork a high amount and payment obligation and get stuck with one operator. The DTH industry at the same time is reeling under heavy losses as they have to heavily subsidize the boxes to create new demand. The robust competition is also keeping them on toes to provide competitive pricing to consumers.
DTH industry’s only solace till date was to get market grip by laying hands on as many subscribers they can get. This would have enabled them to increase their future revenues by gaining more pricing power coupled with VAS service streams. This uncompetitive practice of obliging users to use only their service on boxes was in many ways their savior but may not work if CCI had their way.
The DTH industry also requires many other stringent rules to avoid under-pricing and deterioration of the whole telemedia industry as the same happened with airline sector. This in many way be good news for 15 million DTH subscribers as they could get many more choices in their DTH operators as and when they get ownership of their set-up boxes.
