Consumers dissatisfied with the services of their direct-to-home operator may soon have the option of shifting to another operator.
Dish TV has launched Dish Freedom, a conditional access module (CAM) device, which enables DTH portability. The concept is similar to that of number portability in the telecom sector.
“About 20 per cent of the 33-million DTH subscribers in the country are estimated to be inactive. This is a substantial dormant market segment that we will target as our customer base for Dish Freedom. Being the only player offering CAM services, we aim to add the inactive base in metros and smaller cities to our over 11 million strong family. Consumers can now access our services without having to invest in a new set top box,” said Mr Salil Kapoor, Chief Operating Officer, Dish TV India, part of the Zee Group.
TRAI mandates interoperability in the DTH licencing norms and it is obligatory for all operators to offer interoperable set top boxes.
“The Dish Freedom CAM device can be inserted into the card port on all BIS compliant set top boxes with a CI slot, as mandated by TRAI. It will work on all DTH platforms including MPEG2 and MPEG4,” said Mr Kapoor.
The device, being launched in select key markets, is priced at Rs 990.