The current imbroglio surrounding Conditional Access System may be solved once the Communications Convergence Bill was passed in the Parliament, an official of the department of telecommunications said on Wednesday.
Speaking at Ladies Business Forum in Kolkata, the former telecom secretary and administrator of Universal Service Obligation Fund, Shyamal Ghosh, said that as the Convergence Bill has provision for setting up a super-regulator for information, technology and entertainment, the current chaos involving CAS could have been averted as the cable industry in the country is totally unregulated.
When asked whether CAS is a stopgap measure, Ghosh said that is was expected to resolve the dispute involving the broadcasters and multi-service operators in the absence of the Bill.
Ghosh said from his personal observations that the CAS deadline of July 15 is likely to be met, however suggesting that no customer should buy set top boxes at the moment as the picture is not yet clear.
He also said that the Pune-based Centre for Development of Advanced Computing has already developed the technology for manufacturing indigenous set top boxes.
More from rediff