STB Manufacturers thank MIB for resolving c Form issue

In a recently held meeting with the Secretary, I&B welcomed all the participants and emphasized the need for rolling out Phase III and Phase IV of the Digitization programme. For this purpose, it was essential that the manufacturing and distribution of set Top Boxes (around 11 crore STBs) is coordinated so as to meet the deadlines of December 2015 and December 2016 respectively for Phase III and Phase IV. He stated that the issue of c-Form had already been resolved by the Government and with this a level playing field had also been established viz-a-viz imported STBs. The present meeting had been convened to assess the readiness of the indigenous manufacturers to meet the requirements in view of the fact that they had informed that they have sufficient installed capacity.

The Secretary also informed about the process that have been set in motion in the Ministry to implement the programme. He added that a meeting was held recently in this connection by the Principal Secretary to the Prime Minister with the representatives of M/o I&B, Telecommunications and Information Technology to deliberate on issues related to indigenous manufacturing of set top boxes (STBs) and availability of Indigenous Conditional Access System (CAS). He informed that the issue of Interoperable STBs is also being addressed and one Task Force meeting, where CEAMA is also represented, has also-been held. Hence, it was essential at this stage to work on the deliverables to achieve the goal.

The STB manufacturers thanked the Ministry for resolving the c-Form issue. They also informed that they have been liaisoning with the operators with regard to the latter's requirement of STBs in order to plan for their smooth delivery. However, the response from the operators has not been encouraging. The STB manufacturer’s pointed out the following issues as perhaps the reason for the lukewarm response from the operators:
(i) the expectation that the timelines would be shifted;
(ii) the apprehension that there could be a change in policy

They stated that the Indian manufacturers were prepared to meet with the demand inierms of numbers, price and desired quality. They are even ready to have a penal clause on quality. However, in the absence of orders for delivery from the operators, planning for production is difficult. They mentioned that capacity is not the issue but time is [quired by chip manufacturers and component suppliers to service the orders. Integration of components and chips also takes time. Thus it would not be possible to service the orders at the last moment. Hence they requested that MSOs must plan seeding immediately and should start placing orders so that supply of STBs is staggered in a planned manner. The manufacturers requested the Ministry to facilitate the process whereby MSOs look at indigenous STBs in Phase III & IV of digitisation.

It was suggested by the STB manufacturers that a joint meeting of the indigenous STB manufacturers with the operators may be held by the Ministry so as to address any concern of the operators.

Secretary, I&B stated that the policy of the Government has been consistent and therefore no apprehension on this count with regard to deadline for Phase III and Phase IV of the Digitization programme could be made. No extension of time would be granted. He assured the STB manufacturers of full support with the expectation that they would proactively facilitate the process of digitisation by fulfilling the commitments given by them in this regard. Further he assured that monitoring of the programme would be stepped up in accordance with the implementation strategy being set in place by the Ministry.
 

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