New Delhi, Jan. 22 (PTI): The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said today there is no bar on the purchase of set-top boxes in areas under the conditional access system but these should be priced at the rate already charged from CAS households in the vicinity.

“If a consumer wants to buy a set-top box and watch pay channels in a CAS area, he should be charged the amount that the “next household in the vicinity”, already having the set-top box, is paying, Trai chairman Pradip Baijal said.

He said the preliminary consultation paper the regulator released last week has frozen the rates from December 26 and “that is what a new CAS consumer should be paying”.

Baijal said the regulator has asked the central and the state governments, as well as the public, to give their views — till January 30 — on the set-top regime. About direct-to-home (DTH) services, he said: “If there is a market for DTH, then we must encourage alternatives to CAS.”