TRAI Releases Consultation Paper on Quality of Services in DAS and Consumer Protection

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has put out a new consultation paper on the issues related to the quality of services in digital addressable systems and consumer protection to facilitate transparency and growth in the broadcast sector.

The quality of service norms include the consumers’ right to information relating to services such as subscription, maintenance, complaint redressed, and consumer protection. Currently, there are six DTH operators, two IPTV operators, and a large number of multi-system operators (MSOs) providing pay-TV services through addressable systems in the country.

With this consultation paper, the regulator aims to come up with consumer protection norms and a comprehensive framework for consumer complaint redressed in an effort to provide better choice to the consumers and protect their interests.

Well-defined quality of service and consumer protection norms would help consumers to avail services of their choice. A comprehensive framework for consumer complaint redressed would immensely help subscribers to register their complaints easily and get their grievance redressed in a time-bound manner, leading to enhanced consumer satisfaction.

The authority has sought comments from various stakeholders. The stakeholders include DTH operators, IPTV operators, HITS operators, MSOs, and subscribers. The regulator also aims to encourage the use of modern information and communication technologies to provide better quality of experience to consumers.