By TIOL News Service

NEW DELHI, JUNE 27, 2016 : The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today wrote to all multi system operators to display details of their nodal officers on their website and inform the same to their linked LCOs for ease of business and to reduce disputes.

The Telecommunication (Broadcasting and cable services) Interconnection (Digital Addressable Cable Television Systems) Regulations, 2012 requires that no Multi System Operator shall make available signals of TV channels to any linked local cable operator without entering into a written interconnection agreement. Further it also requires that each & every transaction between the MSO & its linked LCOs must be in writing.

It has been brought to the notice of TRAI that the authorized representatives or nodal persons of MSOs are either inaccessible or issue sometimes hand written transaction notes to LCOs without any specific authorization and company seal / stamp which is not in line with the regulations in this regard. These practices also give rise to disputes as LCOs are not sure whether the contact person is authorized by respective MSO or not.

For improving the coordination between multi system operators and local cable operators all MSOs are directed to declare their nodal officers, which must be easily accessible to LCOs, physically as well as through Email/ mobile, so that they can interact with each other and resolve their issues in time bound manner.