Coming down heavily on defaulting digital service providers for failing to implement the subscriber management system, the telecom regulator warned them on Monday that it will take legal action against CEOs of such companies.

According to guidelines issued by the Trai during the notification of the first phase of digitisation, multiple-service operators (MSOs) and local cable operators (LCOs) were to collect detailed information from their subscribers including their choice of channels.

The regulator has blamed the non-compliance of operators for subscribers not being able to reap the benefits of digitisation even though seeding of set top boxes has been completed in the four metro cities- Delhi, Mumbai, Kolkata and Chennai.

“As per the Quality of Service regulation, setting up a subscriber management system (SMS) is critical and unless this is done the full benefit of digitisation cannot be extended to the subscribers,” Trai secretary Rajeev Agrawal informed mediapersons.

Last month, Agrawal said, MSOs and LCOs were directed to implement the regulation and submit a compliance report. However, many failed to do so due to which the regulatory body has decided to initiate legal proceedings against such operators.

“It was observed that a majority of the MSOs and LCOs have failed to comply with the said direction. The authority has taken a very dim view in the matter and has observed that such inaction on the part of the MSOs/LCOs is unacceptable. This continued inaction leaves the Authority with little alternative other than proceeding legally against the non-compliant MSOs/LCOs as per the TRAI Act,” the regulator said in a statement.

Subscribers of cable TV services in the four cities have also been instructed to ensure that their application forms for the service have been duly submitted with their concerned LCOs/MSOs so that their services are not disrupted.