Indian regulator outlines STB interoperability mandate
Details
Joseph O'Halloran
| 14 April 2020

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a set of consumer-friendly recommendations on interoperability of set-top boxes (STB) for digital TV broadcasting services in the country.

At present, STBs deployed in India’s cable TV networks cannot be used interchangeably across the different service providers and STBs deployed by direct to home (DTH) need to comply with the licence conditions to support common interface (CI) module-based interoperability but are in practice not readily interoperable. TRAI believes that the lack of interoperability of STBs between different service providers not only deprives customers of the freedom to change service provider but also creates a hindrance to technological innovation, improvement in service quality, and the overall sector growth.

In aiming to implement such interoperability, TRAI said that it wants to ensure proper content security, strong anti-piracy and flexibility while keeping device costs reasonable. In setting out its new plans, TRAI said that it has been engaging with the STB industry’s stakeholders on the issue of interoperability, something that it concedes has its own challenges with disparate interest groups such as distribution platform owners, conditional access vendors and STB manufacturers among others.

After such talks it has come up with a list of recommendations, with the founding requirement that every STB provided to a consumer must in principle be interoperable, with mandatory provisioning of USB port-based Common Interface for all digital television sets in India.

TRAI noted that India’s, Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) may include a suitable clause/condition in the permission/registration/cable television network rule mandating all the DTH providers and MSOs to facilitate compulsorily service provisioning through the interoperable STBs either provided by operators or by consumers through retail channels.

Recognising the technical and commercial constraints of a universal STB, TRAI added that STB interoperability will be applicable within the DTH segment and within the cable segment respectively. It added that a time of six months may be given to both DTH operators and MSOs to adopt DVB CI Plus 2.0 conditional access standards with USB CAM) as per the ETSI TS 103 605 standards from the date of MIB notifications. MIB may also coordinate with BIS so that suitable amendments are brought within this time frame.

TRAI also floated the possibility of the creation by MIB of a coordination committee with members from Ministry of Electronics and Information Technology (MeitY), Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS) and representatives of TV manufacturers. The coordination committee may steer the adaptation of the revised STB and digital television standards in a time bound manner.