The Hindu Business Line : Ministry favours 74% foreign investment limit for DTH

Snapshot
Currently, DTH is allowed up to 49 per cent FI, and 20 per cent FDI, and satellite radio is uncapped.
The plan to phase out analogue transmission should be completed by the end of the Twelfth Plan, or 2017

Our Bureau

New Delhi, March 18 Foreign investment limits for Direct to Home, Headend in the Sky and satellite radio could all be fixed at 74 per cent, according to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on various occasions had suggested that the foreign investment limits of certain sub-sectors of the broadcasting be brought at par with those for telecom industry, or with those comparable services irrespective of technology.

“We are of the opinion that the composite limits for the FDI and FII, both direct and indirect can be kept at 74 per cent in the case of infrastructure and platform services like teleports, DTH, HITS and satellite radio,” said Ms Asha Swarup, Secretary Ministry of Information and Broadcasting addressing a conference organised by the Cable and Satellite Broadcasting Association of Asia (CASBAA).

Currently, DTH is allowed up to 49 per cent FI, and 20 per cent FDI, and satellite radio is uncapped.

No changes, however, are expected for cable TV businesses where the limit stands at 49 per cent, and for news and current affairs channels, for whom the FDI will continue to remain at 26 per cent.

The Government is in the process of finalising its policy with regards to Headend in the Sky or HITS, the satellite-based cable TV service.

The Secretary also added that the plan to phase out analogue transmission should be completed by the end of the Twelfth Plan, or 2017.

CAS implementation

Currently, the Ministry is analysing the implementation of Conditional Access Systems (CAS), or digital television, in the four metros before it decides whether or not to implement TRAI’s recommendations.

The TRAI has asked CAS coverage to be extended across all part of existing three metros where CAS was introduced in December 31, 2006 and 55 cities with more than a million population, located close to CAS notified areas, and state capitals by 2011.

According to the Government, only 42 per cent of the 5.5 lakh viewers in the CAS notified areas of Delhi, 60 per cent o the four lakh Mumbai citizens covered by CAS and 15 per cent of the 61,000 thousand people in Kolkata have opted for set top boxes.

According to the Ministry, one of the reasons for such low penetration is the cost of set top boxes.

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