On the first day of Digital Addressable System (DAS) regime in the 38 cities, analogue signals were shut down in several regions. However in other regions, industry players said the signals had not been shut down completely.
According to Government estimates, about 75 per cent of the digitisation target was achieved as of Monday afternoon, with an estimated 12 million set top boxes installed.
Estimates also suggested that Jodhpur and Faridabad achieved almost complete digitisation, besides Allahabad, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Hyderabad and Chandigarh that have achieved complete digitisation.
Government officials said they were constantly monitoring the situation and technical committees, with nodal officers ensuring that all analogue signals were switched off.
A senior official said the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting was in constant touch with the all multi-system operators (MSOs). Given the large subscribers base and the geographical expanse, the Ministry expected analogue signals to be completely shut off in the next few days.
Given the experience of the first phase, officials said that households that had not yet shifted to set top boxes, were expected to do so and demand for set top boxes was expected to soar in the next 10 days.
A senior executive with a national MSO, who did not wish to be identified, said that demand in the past one and half months for set top boxes had been high, while supply and deployment had been a challenge. Cable operators and MSOs have said in the past that they were awaiting delivery of set top boxes.
Most MSOs refused to comment stating that they were still gauging the ground situation.
meenakshi.v@thehindu.co.in