TRAI sets new quality of service rules for DTH

DTH operators will not be able to charge any fee for visits or repair and maintenance work of the consumer premises equipment during the warranty period in cases where there have been outright purchases. The service providers also can't change the composition of their subscription packages during the first six months of enrolment or the validity period of a prepaid subscription package (whichever is longer), a Trai regulation on the quality of service (QoS) for DTH said today.

If there is any alteration, DTH operators will have to proportionately reduce the subscription charges for a package from which any channel is removed. They could also replace the channel with a channel of the same genre and language. DTH service providers have the option of selecting a channel of the same genre and language which has become unavailable on the DTH platform.

Subscribers will, however, have the option of choosing the package with reduced charges or the package with the replaced channel. In its latest amendment to the QoS regulations, Trai has asked the operators to give a prior notice of 15 days before changing the composition of any subscription package.

Further, DTH operators will have to entertain requests of DTH subscribers for suspension of services. But the suspension period should not exceed three months and not comprise part of a calendar month. In the wake of a rapidly growing DTH industry, Trai felt the need to amend the 2007 DTH Broadcasting Services (Standards of Quality of Service and Redressal of Grievances) Regulations.

- Indian Television News.