MSOs fail to meet CAF deadline, genre wise switch offs to start

As yet another deadline slips, multi-system operators (MSOs) are all set to switch off channels genre wise in order to accelerate the process of collecting customer application forms (CAFs) from 38 cities covered under Phase II of DAS (Digital Addressable System). 

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had set 15 November as the deadline for MSOs to collect the CAFs from their subscribers in these 38 cities.

Despite downgrading and running on screen displays (OSD) to inform the customer about the impending deadline of CAF submission, the MSOs have still not managed to collect CAFs from all their subscribers.

MSOs with larger subscriber base have been finding the going tough to cover their entire universe. Hathway Cable and Datacom, which has seeded the most number of set top boxes (STBs) in Phase II cities, has collected CAF from less than 50 per cent of its subscribers. MSOs with a smaller footprint and an even smaller base like Siti Cable and IndusInd Media & Communications Ltd (IMCL) have managed to collect more than 60 per cent of CAF from their subscribers. 

While it has made significant progress in cities like Bengaluru and Pune, there are some cities that have been slack with Hyderabad leading the pack. 

Ravi MansukhaniKumar’s sentiments are echoed by IMCL managing director Ravi Mansukhani. Says he, “We have completed CAF collection from about 75 per cent of our subscriber base. We have a smaller base, so we have managed to do better than those with larger subscriber numbers.

” Mansukhani says that Phase II was smoother for the MSO as they had the experience of Phase I of digitisation. IMCL had also began downgrading channel offerings to subscribers much before the deadline which resulted in higher collection of CAFs. 

Siti Cable COO Anil Malhotra stated that the MSO has managed to collect almost 60 per cent of CAF from subscribers. 

Malhotra is confident that the MSO will complete the process of CAF collection in the next few days. “We have collected six lakh forms and have another four lakh to go. We will start taking action against subscribers who do not submit their CAF by downgrading them,” asserted Malhotra. 

The MSOs, however, are most likely to continue signals to subscribers who have not given their forms. Instead, most of the MSOs are likely to intensify downgrading of channels which will culminate with switching off of STBs as a last resort. 

The reason why MSOs are resorting to a far less stringent measure like downgrading to compel customers to submit their CAFs is due to the fact that in many cases the customer might have filled the form and given it to his local cable operator (LCO) but the latter has not submitted it to the MSO. 

The sector regulator will take a decision depending on the progress made in collecting CAFs. TRAI is expected to meet with the MSOs next week to take stock of the ground level situation. In any case, the MSOs have been giving weekly report on the status of CAF collection. TRAI had in September extended CAF collection guidelines to 15 November from 20 September.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3581-msos-fail-to-meet-caf-deadline,-genre-wise-switch-offs-to-start.htmlSource: http://cablequest.org/news/digitization-news/item/3581-msos-fail-to-meet-caf-deadline,-genre-wise-switch-offs-to-start.html