Trai starts consultation process on ease of doing business in broadcast sector
Trai aims to remove the barriers in the broadcast sector by laying down transparent procedures, facilitate innovation and technology adoption and introduce investor friendly policies
New Delhi: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Monday floated a consultation paper to address procedural bottlenecks and policy issues in the broadcast sector, and thereby facilitate ease of doing business in the sector.
In a statement, the regulator said there is a need to ensure a business-friendly environment due to the growth in the broadcast sector and increasing number of cable distribution platforms including cable TV, direct-to-home (DTH) operators, head-end in the sky (HITS) networks, and Internet protocol television (IPTV) operators.
Currently, there are six private DTH operators, two HITS operators, 900 multi-system operators (MSOs), a few Internet protocol television (IPTV) operators and 60,000 cable operators in the country. State-owned broadcaster Doordarshan also operates a free-to-air DTH platform, DD Free Dish.
“While the broadcasting sector so far has been replete with success, increasing digitization, higher Internet usage and the huge business growth, the authority is of the view that these opportunities coupled with improvement in ease of doing business may catapult the sector into a faster growth trajectory," the authority said in the statement.
With this consultation paper, Trai aims to remove the entry barriers in the sector by “laying down well-defined and transparent procedures, facilitate innovation and technology adoption in the sector and introduce investor friendly policies."
“A business-friendly environment is a pre-requisite for the growth of the sector. The government of India has launched an ambitious program of reforms, aimed at making it easier to do business in India. The program aims to pinpoint the bottlenecks and ease them to create a more business-friendly environment," Trai added.
Earlier in March, the regulator had released a pre-consultation paper on the same subject and invited comments from broadcast stakeholders. “The present consultation paper is being issued consequent to the analysis of stakeholders’ responses to the pre-consultation paper," the regulator said.
The authority has sought comments from various stakeholders on the consultation paper by 28 August and counter-comments by 11 September in a bid to create a conducive and business-friendly environment in the sector.
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