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February 2010
DTH PLAYERS UNDER MRTP SCANNER
The Competition Commission of India -CCI (which has
replaced the MRTP) may soon issue showcause notices
to leading Direct-to-Home (DTH) television operators
for allegedly abusing dominant market position and not
allowing users to change the operator, while retaining
the hardware cost at about Rs 4,000.
 "DTH
operators have been found guilty of violating Sections
3 and 4 of the CCI Act. We will soon send them a notice,
which is kind of a show cause, to which they would have
to respond in 15 days. After that the Commission will
take decision on what action to take against the operators,"
a senior official of the CCI said.
The
move follows the Director General (Investigation) of
the Competition Commission of India (CCI) having found
DTH operators guilty of limiting consumer's option to
choose one network, while using another company's set-top
box by not making their STB's technically inter-operable.
"Since
a Conditional Access Module (CAM) -- a card that facilitates
feeds of one or more service provider to be read by
STBs of another manufacturer -- is absent, the STBs
are not technically inter-operable," the official
said.
The
DG in his findings added that DTH operators are not
following the TRAI's guidelines according to which subscribers
must be able to rent, hire or buy STBs.
The
CCI, sources said, would decide on the quantum of penalty,
if needed, after receiving response from operators.
According
to the Competition Commission Act, companies violating
sections 3 and 4 could be penalised to the maximum of
10% of the average turnover of the preceding 3 financial
years. Sections 3 and 4 pertain to anti-competitive
agreements and abuse of dominance, respectively.
Last
year, the Consumer Federation Online had filed a complaint
against these DTH operators with the CCI, contending
that the practice of not allowing interoperability of
STBs is anti-competitive and against the interest of
consumers.
In
line with the international trend and to cope with the
changing realities, India reviewed the Monopolies and
Restrictive Trade Practices Act, 1969 and has instead
enacted the Competition Act, 2002 (the Act) w.e.f 14
January 03. The Act seeks to repeal the M.R.T.P. Act
and to dissolve the M.R.T.P. Commission, and replace
it by the CCI. The CCI enquires into cases relating
to Anti-Competitive Agreement, Abuse of Dominant position
by an enterprise. n
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