TRAI targets to finalise National Broadcast Policy by May-end

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India will finalise the National Broadcast Policy by the end of May, as stated by TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti.

He added that TRAI’s goal is to provide all stakeholders in the industry a level playing field, while further adding that there should be no entry barriers for any new entrants and there should be no discrimination between different players.

The goal of TRAI is to confirm that the consumer gets a good quality product at an affordable price with convenience to avail the same.

While  talking at Asia Video Industry Association’s (AVIA) Future of Video India conference, Lahoti stressed upon the significance of the National Broadcast Policy saying that a pre-consultation was done before the main consultation as well.

April 30 is the last date provided by the TRAI for receiving comments. Considering that this will only be an input to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), the TRAI has said that there will be an opportunity for counter comments.

He added that the inputs will be finalized once the comments come in since they have a target for completion by the end of May. After finalizing, it will be sent to the MIB around the first week of June.

Sanjay Jaju, secretary, Information and Broadcasting too added that the Bill aims to streamline regulatory processes, and ensure that there is a balanced playing field for different service providers.

He also said that through the Bill, provisions for emerging technologies will be introduced, while keeping in mind the differences in the technologies, business models and issues that citizens might have related to various stakeholders.