India may follow USA in practicing complete digitalization for delivery of cable TV services with the regulator TRAI suggesting on Thursday, December 31, 2013 as the date by when India should shed away the analogue mode of transmission.

The regulator has suggested a tax holiday for those service providers who switch to the digital format. It has also called for rationalisation of taxes and has favoured bringing down the basic Customs duty to zero on head-end equipment and set-top boxes for the next three years.

Service providers setting up digital distribution networks before the sunset date of December 2013 will be eligible for a tax holiday from April 2011 to March 2019. MSOs/LCOs should be given the right of way permission to lay optical fibre on non-exclusive basis, it said.

As part of the four-phase rollout, TRAI said the four metros should be covered by March 2011, while targeting cities with a population of over a million by December 2011. In all the other urban areas, the rollout of digital services should be completed by December 2012 and the rest of the country by December 2013.