MANILA, Philippines -- Local cable television operators are asking Congress to pass tougher legislation that will criminalize illegal connections, which are costing the industry billions of pesos in losses due to foregone revenue every year.

According to the statement of the Philippine Cable TV Association (PCTA), there is one illegal cable connection for every legal subscription in the country today.

?This translates to about P6.3 billion in losses annually for the industry,? PCTA chairman Jose Lobregat said.

Emphasizing the need for legislation regarding this matter, he said the PCTA has initiated with Congress the passing of a bill that would criminalize cable theft while allowing the cable provider to recover losses from subscriber damage to equipment arising from cable theft.

?It is the PCTA?s hope that this bill will be [passed] into law by the end of year or the start of 2011,? Lobregat said.

Apart from better service and reception, Lobregat said eliminating illegal connections would give customers the assurance that they have been benefitting from fair use of service for what they payed for.

?At the same time, this would allow the provider to recover quickly the cost of their investment which they can spend on improving the service such as going digital and adding more content and value added services,? he said.

Another way to curb signal theft, the group said, would be to adopt digital television technology?which the group said would be impossible to tamper with.

Digital television technology also helps firms deliver better services for consumers and increase profitability.

?Digitization would allow the providers to carry more channels and more value added services.? Lobregat said. ?On PCTA?s part, digitization of cable is not a question of whether to do it or not but when,? he said.

Sky Cable, the country?s largest cable television operator, earlier said it had earmarked P1 billion this year for capital expenditure, around P200 million of which would be spent for the shift from analog to digital.

Sky Cable is aiming to convert about 80 percent of its half a million subscribers to digital by year end.