SC gives Trai time till Jan 15 to fix DTH tariff

The Supreme Court today gave Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) time till January 15 to complete its exercise to fix tariff for DTH services.

A bench headed by Justice B N Agarwal, while extending the time, clarified that it has not expressed any opinion on the question whether there is any "linkage" between non-CAS cable and DTH platform.

The apex court had earlier on July 6 given two months time to Trai to decide the issue.

Trai had sought sufficient time to complete the exercise in a proper manner, following a transparent and participatory consultation process involving all stakeholders in both non-CAS cable distribution sector and DTH platform.

Counsels Mukul Rohtagi and Sanjay Kapur sought permission for Trai to complete the tariff regulation exercise in respect of DTH services, alongside the finalisation of the eventual tariff dispensation for the non-CAS cable sector.

Trai is required to submit its report to the apex court by December 31 as far as tariff fixtion for non-CAS cable distribution is concerned.

Opposing Trai's plea, senior counsel Iqbal Chagla, appearing for TataSky, said there are no linkages between the two and Trai should not be granted more time.

Both are "inherently different platforms with abolutely different dynamics. DTH platform is a 100 per cent addressable system whereas ther cable is a non-addressable system", TataSky stated, adding that there was no link between fixing DTH content prices and the exercise for fixing non-CAS tariffs.