DTH (direct-to-home) subscribers would soon be able to switch service providers without changing their set-top box and antenna.

Dish TV, owned by the Essel Group, is planning to launch a conditional access module (CAM), an add-on hardware required for DTH portability, within the next two months.

The cellphone-sized device would cost Rs 700 to Rs 900, which is one-third the cost of a new direct-to-home connection.

A DTH connection now comes with proprietary set-top box and an antenna. To switch to another DTH operator, a subscriber has to buy its set-top box and antenna. But once CAM is launched, consumers would only have to buy it and plug it into their existing set-top box to access Dish TV signal.

When contacted, Dish TV’s competitors Sun Direct, Videocon and BIG TV did not reveal any plan of introducing similar add-on hardware soon.

Other DTH players are expected to follow Dish TV’s footsteps since the Competition Commission of India wants interoperability of DTH settop boxes and antennae. Sources said the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, another regulator, was also in favour of DTH portability.

“Interoperability is mandated in the DTH licencing norms. We are offering DTH subscribers of other companies the option of switching to the Dish TV platform by buying our CAM,” Dish TV chief operating officer Salil Kapoor said on Tuesday.

The company is performing a final-round of tests on two CAM variants, one of which will be made available to consumers through its dealer-distributor network, said a company source.

The Dish TV CAMs are working on the set-top boxes of Sun, Videocon and Doordarshan, added the source. According to technical experts, all set-top boxes have slots for such add-on cards since it is mandatory under law.

While DTH portability would be a boon for subscribers, it might prove to be the bane of DTH operators already losing money because of high subscriber acquisition cost. “Dish TV hopes to grab new subscribers at lower cost from rivals using this strategy,” said Kapoor.

Besides bringing a new set of subscribers to Dish TV, the launch of CAM could lessen the subsidy burden. Like the other DTH operators, Dish TV subsidises the cost of hardware by about Rs 2,500 for every new subscriber. The subsidy amount is recovered over a period of around three years through monthly charges.

Industry insiders said out of every 100 DTH subscribers, at least four to six were not happy with their service providers. Since there are about 20 million DTH subscribers and about 10 million more will sign up this year, CAM could throw up business opportunities for all DTH operators.