TRAI asked to check prevalence of monopolies in cable sector

"I have requested the ministry to make a reference to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) as to how do we ensure that monopolies do not continue to subsist in the market because monopolies are the anti-thesis of choice," Information and Broadcasting Minister Manish Tewari said

"I have requested the ministry to make a reference to the TRAI specifically as to how we can deal with this issue as we go forth into digitisation between now and 2014," he told reporters.

He was asked whether he had taken the step keeping in mind the domination by certain players in the Multi System Organisations (MSOs) category in states like Punjab.

"Essentially this is not about Punjab or about any state. I think the issue is very germane. When you are trying to create a transparent architecture which empowers the consumer, I think in the process of empowerment, it is also essential that they need to have a wider choice in terms of operators that they could choose from," he said.

"There are similar provisions with regard to sectoral caps in telecom, even when we do the radio auction, we mandate such cap," he added.

The minister said that he had asked TRAI to look into monopolies whether they existed at a local, state or regional level and also into other related gamut of issues.

Asked if he was in favour of bringing news broadcasters under the ambit of the Press Council, he said the government favoured self regulation.

"The entire effort is to try and find a golden mean between article 19, the caveat to article 19 and how the entire process will work. If at all there is extreme aberration of some extreme provocation, the inherent powers that the government has as a licensor, those powers the government always retains," Tewari said.