Business Standard, 04th June 2003
The minister-in-charge Department of Consumer affairs and fair business practices, Naren De said that the central government instead of bringing down the import duty on set top boxes, should provide incentive to private Indian enterpreneurs so that the same can be manufactured in the country.
De was present at a panel discussion on ‘Cable TV Fiasco: The way out’ organised by the Consumer Unity & Trust Society that represented players from the service provider segment, cable operators and consumer activists.
“The government should have provided enough time for implementation of Conditional Access System (CAS) so that the encryption and decryption technology through set top boxes could be adopted in the country blocking outflow of precious foreign exchange,” the minister added.
“The central government seems to be hurrying up matters, but an extended deadline could have eased up matters providing enough time to all concerned parties to for them to clear up confusions,” De explained.
The minister also said that the government should also put in place an authority which could address all problems related to cable channel viewing.