Is your inverter on standby? Paid your cable bill? Plonked yourself comfortably on a sofa with your favourite popcorn? If yes, there is a possibility you might still not enjoy the ongoing World Cup cricket match.
Some of the cricket buffs in the city were ‘bowled’ by an ‘unexpected delivery’ in the form of a government rule that reached them late in the day.
As it turns out, all the MSO (Multi Service operator) have to send the data of their customers to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting. The operators, who suddenly turned active about the implementation of the rule, are resorting to disconnection of services of the customers, who have not provided the required details.
Take the example of Avinash, an employee with a private firm and a resident of Begumpet. Quite engrossed in watching the India match last week, he was in for a rude shock when the cable network snapped. “I was sure I had even paid the monthly subscription. After making frantic calls I was told to provide details and then the connection was restored. They could have done this earlier as I am sure most of the customers are unaware of the rule.”
The operators have to provide that details of the set top box number as well as the unique code of the service operator to the government.
“This data has to be updated, but some of the operators are not doing it systematically,” said Hari Goud, president, Cable Operators Welfare Association, GHMC.
“Whenever such incidents are coming to our notice we are making sure the process speeds up and viewers can enjoy the match. The problem is that many customers bought the set top boxes for a cheaper price and also due to shortage from open markets last year. Since, the operators did not install these boxes they do not have the required details to update the data of the customer.”
