The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, the new broadcast regulator, on Thursday froze the rates cable consumers pay to operators at the December 26 level till further orders.

This would mean whatever the consumer was paying to his cable operator for viewing both, pay as well as free to air channels, on December 26, 2003 will be the rate which he would continue to pay till TRAI finally determines various issues of the cable and broadcast industry, TRAI Chairman Pradip Baijal said.

TRAI specified a ceiling for charges to be paid by subscribers to cable operators, by the operators to multi system operators and by MSOs to broadcasters for both, pay and free-to-air channels.

The ceiling will be the tariffs existing as on December 26, 2003, and are valid for areas with conditional access system in operation, and those where it is not yet implemented.

"There is considerable uncertainty about different aspects of the conditional access system regime and a detailed examination is required of the various issues, including the rates for the broadcast and cable services in CAS and non-CAS areas," TRAI said.

"Not only are there no standard rates or conditions at which services are provided by the cable operators to the subscribers, there are reports that there may be an increase in the rates charged to the subscribers. The Authority has begun its process of examination of the relevant issues, including those relating to CAS, through a consultation process," TRAI said.

"To bring some certainty in the rates prevailing for these services, it was considered necessary by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India to intervene in the matter. The TRAI has, therefore, deemed it appropriate to specify as ceiling the rates at which the charges will be paid by the cable subscribers to cable operators, by the cable operators to multi service operators and by multi service operators to broadcasters, as those prevailing on 26th December 2003 with respect to both free-to-air channels and pay channels, and for both CAS and non-CAS areas," TRAI said.

"This intervention will continue until a final determination by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on the various issues involved," the regulator said.

The Delhi high court, on December 26, had directed the continuance of implementation of CAS in Delhi on a trial basis, initially for a period of three months, after which appropriate directions would be issued after taking into account the feedback for the three months' experience. The ceiling rates have therefore been specified as those prevailing on December 26, 2003," TRAI clarified.