Mumbai : The issue of blocking DTH signals using signal jammers took place in Noida in 2011 and in Mumbai in 2008 and 2012. While the culprits were put behind bars in Noida, the signal disruption stopped in Mumbai after a written complaint was sent to the police and subsequent escalation of issue in media.
However, Once again the war between LCOs and DTH players have resurfaced as DTH firms like Tata Sky, Dish TV, Reliance Big TV, Videocon D2H and Airtel Digital TV have detected fresh cases of DTH jammers causing disruption of services in some parts of Mumbai.
According to the, DTH Operators Association of India (DOAOI), there have been growing instances of DTH jammers being used in parts of Mumbai to distort DTH signals.
To bring these misdoings to the notice of the government, DOAOI has sent out a strong worded letter to TRAI, I&B Ministry, DoT and other security agencies.
“These Jammers are being used to disrupt DTH signals and are also a threat to National security as the same are capable of being used to interfere with other signals besides DTH,” said DOAOI in an official statement.
The DOAOI has also written an official letter about this issue to the Prime Minister’s Office,
Ministry of Home Affairs and Commissioner of Police, Mumbai.
Harit Nagpal (MD & CEO Tata Sky and DOAOI president) pointed out that they’ve received numerous complaints from subscribers about poor quality and freezing of pictures on television screens in a systematic manner, which gave rise to the suspicion of jammers being involved.
The illegal use of Jammers came to the notice of DTH players with the numerous subscriber complaints from the Versova, Yari road and Lokhandwala of Andheri, in Mumbai regarding loss of DTH signals during the FIFA World Cup matches.
It was found that the jammer signals were disrupting the DTH signals of all DTH Operators including the National DTH Operator DD Direct Plus.
DOAOI has cited five specific instances when DTH jammers caused problems to the DTH signals in Mumbai between July 4 and July 13 this year. These instances happened during the telecast of key FIFA matches and higher on weekends.
“Government has made it a fair playing field for MSO’s and DTH with digitalization, this has put pressure on some operators to provide quality in their offering and other Value added services. Cable Operators who are can’t afford such kind of technological upgrades are feeling in-secured of loosing subscriber base and involving in to such kind of malpractices accused DOAOI.
DOAOI also stated that there is no specialized equipment to deal with the ill – effects of the jammers on DTH signals on a conscious basis and the same is also beyond the reasonable control of DTH service providers.
Further, due to such illegal activity the subscribers think that the signal interference is caused by DTH service providers and the DTH service provider lose goodwill and credibility resulting in loss of subscriber base” read the letter written to the Commissioner of Police, Mumbai.
On the other hand few LCOs who are not willing to disclose their identity countered the DOAOI’s allegation that the DTH signals naturally gets interfered due to thick clouds and Rain and this being a monsoon season the complaints of poor signals will tend to increase and DTH Operators are trying make use of this situation to paint a bad picture on the Cable Operators and covering the natural flaws that persist in DTH technology itself.
