œUnder a directive from the President, we will take measures to register satellite service providers and promulgate rules to regulate the services provided by satellite service providers, Kanchana Ratwatte, Director General of the Telecommunications Regulatory Commission (TRC), told journalists.
The orders also include registering all equipment needed for satellite transmission and reception, as well as monitoring of providers, vendors, users and usage of the facilities.
A team led by the TRC is to draw up the regulations over the next few weeks. There are about four large satellite broadcasters, but several mushroom operations locally.
Three satellite broadcast stations CBNSat, LBN and SATNet were sealed recently, on allegations of operating without the required licence and approvals.
Following the shut down by the Criminal Investigations Department, local cable television provider CBNSat is in courts to restart operations.
The TRC says CBNSat was operating off