Television sets beamed or went on the blink on Monday in many of the 38 cities where the second phase of digitisation ended on Sunday midnight as some multi-system operators switched off analogue signals but others didn’t.

According to the government estimates, about 70-71 per cent of the digitisation target has been achieved in the 38 cities. Of the 16 million set-top boxes required, an estimated 11.2 million have been installed.

Industry players said they would take more time to complete the mammoth task of installing set-top boxes in all television households in the 38 cities, including Patna.

Five cities that are estimated to have achieved 100 per cent digitisation include Chandigarh, Ludhiana, Amritsar, Allahabad and Hyderabad.

Eight cities that are said to have achieved over 75 per cent digitisation. They are Jodhpur, Thane, Aurangabad, Jaipur, Pune, Faridabad, Nashik and Ghaziabad. Government estimates also suggest that 23 towns have achieved over 50 per cent digitisation. Cities such as Patna, Srinagar and Visakhapatnam are reported to have seen very little digitisation.

The number of households that come under the government-notified area in Hyderabad region has been an issue of debate. Cable operators have got a stay on digitisation in Bangalore and Ahmedabad till April 1 and April 8, respectively.

Experts in the broadcast industry said it could take an additional 15-30 days to install set-top boxes in the 38 cities. Also, low levels of consumer awareness in eight-10 cities could delay the conversion process even more.

A senior executive of an MSO said: “The digitisation process is on in the 38 cities. But it would take three months to stabilise and operators to offer packages and genuine choice to consumers in these cities.”

He said: “Even in the first phase, Calcutta did not get digitised by the end of the stipulated deadline and took two additional months, while in Chennai the matter is still in the court.”

Roop Sharma, president, Cable Operators’ Federation of India, told The Telegraph: “The way the government has gone about this whole digitisation business is arbitrary. Without providing set-top boxes to consumers, they are asking MSOs to stop current form of supply. It is totally wrong. Apart from this, agreement on revenue share between pay channels and MSOs, too, has not yet been finalised and some cable operators are yet to get licences to operate in the digital addressable system regime.”

She added that unavailability of indigenous set-top boxes in market was compelling people to buy third-rated, China-made devices at higher rates.

Indian Broadcasting Foundation, the apex association of broadcasters, which had earlier said it would comprehensively switch off analogue signals on March 31 midnight in these 38 cities, said on Monday that advisories had been sent to member channels to abide by the directive of the government.