There is good news for the people troubled by rising inflation in the country. Now your cable bill can be reduced in the coming time. Watching TV will become cheaper. TRAI has recommended that the government abolish the DTH license fee after FY27.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has recommended to the government that license fees for DTH operators should be abolished from the financial year 2026-2027 so that they can perform well in the long term. In addition, TRAI has also said in a letter to the government that the license fee for Direct-to-Home (DTH) operators should be reduced to zero in the coming three years. Work should be done to eliminate it gradually.
Recommended Because
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has argued that DTH platforms should be treated like other regulated and unregulated distribution platforms such as Multi-System Operators (MSOs), Headend in the Sky (HITS) operators, IPTV providers, DD Free Dish and OTT services. They should be considered equal. Don’t pay any license fee.
Dwindling Numbers
DD Free Dish has been losing ground in the DTH sector to Prasar Bharati’s free and OTT platforms in the last few years. As of March 2023, the four pay DTH platforms have an active subscriber base of 65.25 million. The number of direct-to-home (DTH) subscribers is dwindling.
Demand To Reduce DTH License Fee
Until the license fee becomes zero, TRAI has recommended that the DTH license fee be reduced to 3% of the Aggregated Gross Revenue (AGR) from 8%. The DTH industry has been demanding for a long time that there should be a level playing field between DTH and other distribution platforms when it comes to license fees. According to industry estimates, private DTH operators pay over Rs 1,000 crore annually as license fees.
