Section 23 in Telecommunication (Broadcasting and Cable) Services Standards of Quality of Service and Consumer Protection (Addressable Systems) Regulations, 2017
23. Pre-paid billing and payment.
(1)Every distributor of television channels or its linked local cable operator, as the case may be, shall, in case of pre-paid payments, acknowledge such payments to the subscriber and ensure that the subscriber management system is updated accordingly.(2)The billing cycle for pre-paid payment option shall be thirty days from the date of activation of services.(3)Every distributor of television channels shall, on its website, maintain the records of billing and payment of subscribers, for at least preceding six months and provide log-in access to the subscribers to their accounts:Provided that such records of subscriber shall contain itemised usage details of, -(a)network capacity fee,(b)rental charges for customer premises equipment, if any,(c)charges for pay channels and bouquets of pay channels subscribed by subscriber during the period of billing cycle,(d)any other charges which has been levied in compliance with the provisions of these regulations and,(e)taxes in conformity with applicable laws.(4)It shall be permissible for a distributor of television channels to temporarily suspend the services of a prepaid subscriber in case of non availability of balance amount in his prepaid account:Provided that in case the services of the subscriber remain suspended continuously for a period of three months, such subscriber shall not be counted as an active subscriber of the distributor and it shall be permissible for the distributor to deactivate such subscriber from subscriber management system:Provided further that the distributor shall upon the recharge of balance amount in subscriber's account, restore services and such distributor may charge an amount not exceeding rupees hundred as re-activation fee from the subscriber for restoration of services if such services have remained suspended continuously for a period exceeding three months.
