India's cable TV homes have grown by more than 20 million in the past nine years to over 100 million, according to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's principal advisor, SK Gupta.
"The number of cable households has gone up from 79 million in 2006 to over 101 million at present. The number of channels has gone up to over 800," Gupta told delegates at the Indian Digital Operators Summit (IDOS) 2015 in Goa.
Gupta also underlined that there will be no further extension of the end of year deadline for completion of the third phase of digitisation of India's vast cable TV network. He has called for industry-driven guidelines for this phase instead of those issued by regulators, pointing to "lessons learnt" from the implementation of the first two phases of the country's digital addressable system (DAS) project.
Billing problems, difficulty in switching operators, and a lack of á la carte channel options had beleaguered consumers during the switch to digital cable TV services thus far, he said in a report from Indiantelevision.com.
Gupta added that greater collaboration within the cable TV sector could pay dividends, as has been the case in India's telecommunications sector where sharing and selling spectrum and mobile portability has led to greater overall growth.
