DAS Delay Not In Anybody's Interest: Supriya Sahu

Eyeing on March 31, 2013 the deadline for phase II of cable digitisation, government has said that there is a stock of 2.3 million set top boxes with the MSOs and LCOs. The second phase will see more than 16 million home come under the digitization umbrella. The government is quite confident about meeting the deadline and sees very less chance of it being postponed, which was happened in DAS Phase I.

According to the cable operators in cities such as Patna, Ahmedabad, Pune, Surat, Nagpur and Jaipur, only 30 per cent of the set top box installations have been completed till date. Despite Government assurances, cable operators feel that the deadline will have to be postponed to complete all STB installations.

Above this, the hike in import duties of set top boxes from 5 per cent to 10 per cent, as announced in the Union Budget for 2013-14, has come as a nasty surprise for the industry. Supporting the hike in duties, Supriya Sahu, Joint Secretary, Ministry of I&B said, “This will give a push to the local manufacturing industry, which is a very good thing for a country like us and it is a matter of pride that our country is going to be benefitted.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/1663-das-delay-not-in-anybody-s-interest-supriya-sahu.html