MSOs must furnish CAS and SMS details under TRAI regulations: MIB

New Delhi: The Ministry of Information and Broadcasting (MIB), on Monday, issued an advisory directing all the Multi System Operators (MSOs) to furnish and submit details of CAS (Conditional Access System) and Subscriber Management System (SMS). 

The deadline for submission of the aforementioned details is set at June 20, 2025. 

The advisory comes under the purview of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) regulations - 4A of the Telecommunication (Broadcasting & Cable) Services Interconnection Regulations, 2017 - that sets out that every distributor of television channels must deploy a CAS and SMS. 

According to MIB, the MSOs are required to submit their CAS and SMS details in a specified format, which includes the name of the MSO, the CAS/SMS version or model being used, and the date of its deployment. 

 This move by the MIB and the TRAI is in the direction of ensuring full benefits of digitisation. As per the terms of the Digital Addressable Cable TV systems regulations, MSOs can only transmit digital signals and activate Set Top Box only after receiving the Consumer Application Form from the consumer with their preference and entering all the details in the Subscriber management System. 

If there are no such details, the MSOs are obliged under the law not to transmit the signal and deactivate the cable TV service. The CAS is complementary to these steps towards digitisation and transparency. CAS ensures that the consumer only pays for what they want to view. This also boosts transparency for the broadcasters and enables them to collect payments on the actual numbers. 

The advisory noted that in view of the TRAI regulations, TEC (Telecommunication Engineering Centre), a body under the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). was entrusted with the responsibility of keeping record of the CAS and SMS deployed by cable TV operators across the country. 

The DoT subsequently wrote to the Ministry of Information and Broadcasting in May, asking it to advise all MSOs to submit their CAS and SMS details in a specified format.