We want most consumer-friendly CAS: Govt

New Delhi, July 20 (UNI) The Government today welcomed the High Court judgement for implementing the conditional Access System (CAS) in Delhi, Mumbai and Kolkata from Januar one, next year saying it was fully ready to put the system in place and a notification will be issued on July 31.

''We would like the new system to be most consumer-friendly, and seek the cooperation of all the stake holders,''Joint Secretray, Information and Broadcasting Ministry Baijendra Kumartold UNI.

He said the court had given the government ample time for preparing to introduce CAS.

'' The judgement is in our favour. We had asked for 26 weeks and the court has given us nearly the same time--22 weeks,'' Mr Kumar added.

The Centre had earlier approached the division bench appealing that CAS could not be implemented within 10 weeks as directed by the single judge on March 10.

Mr Kumar said CAS will be implemented only in areas notified earlier.

''You can't implement it in the whole city in one go, as there will be problem of set-top boxes. We have explained this to the court,'' he said.

President of the Cable Operators Federation of India Roop Sharma also welcomed the court order saying,'' Though the introduction of the system has been delayed, but we are happy that finally it is there.'' The CAS will give consumers more choice, bring in transparency in the whole operation, and reduce monthly bills of those who did not want many pay channels, she said.

Also, there will be no fear of monoply now as the DTH and IPTV are there, she added.

Meahwile, Wire&Wireless India Limited (WWIL) has also welcomed the court order.

Mr Jagjit Singh Kohli, CEO WWIL, said "Wire&Wireless India Limited is fully prepared to roll-out Set Top Boxes not only in the notified areas but throughout the country." The order brings the curtain down on a long and often volatile debate on the question of introducing "mandated addressability" in India, he said.

UNI NAZ AK HT2222