A day after extending the deadline for consumers to make their TV channel preferences till March 31, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday said operators can't charge users more than their monthly outgo under the 'best fit' plan. The best fit plan is offered to consumers during the transition period.
TRAI on Wednesday warned it would act against any complaint received against operators. "TRAI has clearly asked distribution platform owners (DPOs) to ensure that for consumers, the monthly outgo under the best fit plan should not exceed the payout per month of existing plan of the subscriber," TRAI secretary S.K. Gupta told PTI.
"TRAI has directed DPOs to give best fit plan to customers who have not exercised their option as of now, in order to protect their interest and ensure that they do not face any inconvenience," Gupta said.
TRAI had said that the best fit plan should be designed based on consumers' usage pattern and language spoken.
The regulator had said that subscribers will be free to change their best fit plan at any date and time on or before March 31, 2019, and the DPO will convert their best fit plan into a desired pack (opted by the consumer) within 72 hours of subscribers making their channel preferences known. The original deadline for selecting channels was to be December 31, 2018, which was then extended by a month.
There are about 100 million cable service TV homes and 67 million DTH TV homes in the country and approximately 65 per cent of the subscribers of the cable services and 35 per cent subscribers of the DTH services have already exercised the option of selecting the channels of their choice.
