TRAI sets August 23 deadline for CAF in Kolkata

Local cable operators (LCOs) and multi-system operators (MSOs) in Kolkata have been given the deadline of August 23, 2013, to submit filled-in Consumer Application Forms (CAF) to the central Subscriber Management System (SMS). This was decided at a meeting in New Delhi between the TRAI brass and representatives of frontline city multi system operators (MSOs) on 19 July 2013. The meet was chaired by TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar.

All cable TV subscribers in the city will have to collect consumer application forms (CAF) from local cable operators (LCOs) and multi-system operators (MSOs) and furnish their personal details and channels of choice before August 23, 2013, or else they won't be able to see any channel after that.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given the final deadline for the MSOs and the LCOs operating in Kolkata to send all the filled-in CAFs to the central Subscriber Management System (SMS), which is a must for implementation of Digital Addressable cable TV Systems (DAS) in the city.

N Parameswaran, principal advisor, said, "The CEOs of all the five or six leading MSOs of Kolkata were present at the meeting. We have thrashed out relevant issues and fixed August 23, 2013 as the deadline for full-scale rollout of DAS in Kolkata. Therefore, MSOs have to mandatorily begin distributing Subscriber Management System (SMS) forms to all cable TV households in Kolkata and ensure that the subscribers' data is fed into the systems at their end by the deadline.”

"If any MSO fails to implement this process by this deadline, its transmissions will not only be snapped, but the truant operator will also attract criminal prosecution. From now on, Trai will monitor the manner in which MSOs in Kolkata are going about executing the SMS on a regular and systematic basis," Parameswaran added.

"We will also run advertisements to bring consumers in Kolkata abreast of the August 23 deadline." TRAI is umbraged by the "sluggish" pace at which Kolkata MSOs have gone about the unveiling of DAS. According to Parameswaran, despite set-top boxes being seeded in all 28 lakh cable TV subscriber households in the city, a "meagre 20% of these subscribers" have come within the SMS ambit. 

DAS loses all utility and relevance in the absence of the SMS. Parameswaran drove home that the August 23 deadline for full-blown launch of DAS in Kolkata has no room, whatsoever, for any extension.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2845-trai-sets-august-23-deadline-for-caf-in-kolkata.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/2845-trai-sets-august-23-deadline-for-caf-in-kolkata.html