The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today released its recommendations on “KYC of DTH Set Top Boxes”.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been making numerous changes within the DTH and the broadcasting industry ever since the introduction of the new TRAI tariff regime. Since the regulatory changes, which happened within the begin of the year, TRAI has presented numerous consultation papers to look for the seek the views of stakeholders of the industry on different topics and likely directions, which it may introduce within the close future.
Though, among these discussion papers, there was a paper on KYC for Set-Top Box. To review, TRAI has received a reference from the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) back in December 2018, asking for proposals of TRAI on the attractive quality or something else of Know Your Customer (KYC) for Set-Top Boxes, in DTH industry. And now, TRAI has, at last, come up with these recomendations.
A reference from Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB) was received from the Ministry of Information and vide its letter dated 28th December 2018, seeking recommendations of TRAI on the desirability or otherwise of Know Your Customer (KYC)for Set-Top Boxes, in DTH Services and if desirable, then the process for the same.
In order to deliberate on various aspects and to seek inputs from the industry stakeholders, TRAI issued a consultation paper on “KYCof DTH Set Top Boxes”, on 19th July 2019. Written comments and counter comments on the consultation paper were invited from the stakeholders by 19th August 2019 and 02nd September 2019. All the comments received were posted on TRAI’s website. Subsequently, an open house discussion was held on 26th September 2019, in Delhi, to seek further views of the stakeholders on various issues.
Based on the comments of the stakeholders received during the abovementioned consultation process and its own analysis, the Authority has finalized its recommendations on “KYC of DTH Set Top Boxes”.
The salient features of the recommendations are:
- DTH operator should install the DTH connection at the address mentioned in the Customer Application Form(CAF) only and the address of such installed set-top box must be verified by the 1 representative of the DTH operator and record of such installation shall be maintained by the DTH operator.
- DTH operator should ensure the identity of the subscriber by sending the one-time password(OTP) to his registered mobile number.
- In cases where a registered mobile number is not provided by the subscriber/corporate body, DTH operator should collect Proof of Identity or any other similar document which can establish the identity of the user either in physical or electronic form before provisioning of DTH connection.
- There is no need to mandate physical verification at regular intervals as it will incur a huge cost burden to the DTH operators and inconvenience to the consumers. However, for existing set-top boxes, which are not attached to any mobile number of the subscribers, efforts should be made by the DTH operator to associate such set-top boxes issued by them to link with a mobile number within a period of two years. Further in the case where it is not possible to link with a mobile number, a document for proof of identity of the subscriber should be collected by the DTH operator.
- There is no need to mandate DTH operators to incorporate Location Based Services (LBS)in DTH set-top boxes.
