Cable TV digitization in 38 cities hit STB roadblock

Telecom Lead Asia: Cable TV digitization initiatives in 38 cities of Phase-II have flopped mainly due to lack of availability of STBs and wrong planning.

In Karnataka, cable operators, who said they can not complete digitization process before the March 31 deadline due to lack of the availability of STBs, have gone to the court. In Gujarat as well, cable operators may get more time to seed new STBs.

In Uttar Pradesh, cable operators are planning to meet Chief Minister Akhilesh Yadav to discuss about the shortage of STBs and other operational issues.

“The phase II implementation of cable digitization did not succeed due to wrong planning and lack of STBs. Though the government is adamant, the bureaucrats need to postpone the entire initiative and plan properly,” Roop Sharma, president of Cable Operators Association of India (COFI) told TelecomLead.com.

Around 40 lakh TV screens went blank on Monday as 75 percent of the 1.6 crore households had shifted to STBs.

The center has ruled out extending the deadline for switching over to digital addressable systems in 38 cities despite demands from at least two states, Andhra Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh.

Cities including Srinagar, Coimbatore and Visakhapatnam were lagging with less than 30 percent of households switching over while a court stay in Bangalore and cities in Gujarat slowed down progress there.

I&B secretary U K Varma said: “We are giving people transition time of 5-7 days.”

Cricket lovers of the upcoming Indian Premier League in these cities and towns will be affected. They will be prompted to use online portals to watch their favorite matches. But BSNL, the largest broadband player in India, on Monday said its internet capacity has dropped by 21 percent due to multiple fiber cuts in three under-sea cable systems that connect India with many parts of the world.

As on March 26, 67 percent of the digitization target was achieved in 38 cities. As per the data received from the DTH operators and the MSOs, as on 23 March, 108 lakhs STBs have already been installed in Phase-II cities against the target of 1.60 crore, registering overall achievement of over 67 percent digitization.

Four cities, namely, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh and Allahabad, have achieved nearly 100 percent digitization. 75 percent digitization has been achieved in 8 cities viz. Jodhpur, Thane, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Pune, Faridabad, Nashik, and Ghaziabad.

Out of 38 cities to be digitized in Phase-II, 28 cities have achieved more than 50 percent digitization individually. These cities are Ludhiana, Hyderabad, Amritsar, Chandigarh, Allahabad, Jodhpur, Thane, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Pune, Faridabad, Nashik, Ghaziabad, Meerut, Vadodara, Sholapur, Kanpur, Varanasi, Bangalore, Indore, Ranchi, Lucknow, Navi Mumbai, Nagpur, Ahmedabad, Surat, Bhopal and Howrah.

Price revision in STBs also prompted consumers to delay buying of STBs. During Union Budget 2013-14, India’s Finance Minister P Chidambaram announced that there will be increase in duty of STBs from 5 percent to 10 percent. The DTH industry had opposed the move.

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