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Department of Telecom

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Consultation on Complaints/Grievance Redressal in Telecom Sector

Start Date :

Jul 28, 2016

Last Date :

Aug 27, 2016

00:00 AM IST (GMT +5.30 Hrs)

Submission Closed

The telecom sector in India has grown rapidly in the last decade and subscriptions have crossed 1 billion. These subscribers are filing large numbers of complaints with the Telecom ...

The telecom sector in India has grown rapidly in the last decade and subscriptions have crossed 1 billion. These subscribers are filing large numbers of complaints with the Telecom Service Providers [TSPs]. The complaints are on account of wrong billing, indifferent or poor quality of service, non-provision of contracted services, etc. Unsatisfactory resolution of the consumer complaints, by the TSPs, is resulting in complaints and grievances being forwarded to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and Department of Telecom (DoT) on a regular basis.

As per the existing Legal and Regulatory framework, the individual consumer grievance redressal is outside the purview of the TRAI. Licensing conditions for the TSPs stipulates that “All complaints of subscribers in this regard will be addressed/ handled as per the orders or regulations or directions issued by the Licensor or TRAI from time to time.” Accordingly TRAI has from time to time issued Regulations specifying the broad frame work of the complaint redressal mechanism that all TSPs should establish and maintain within their organizations.

The role and impact of telecommunication services has metamorphosed from being a communication tool to a critical instrument for the social and economic development of the country. It is imperative that consumer complaints and public grievances in the telecom space are resolved in a timely, efficient and cost-effective manner through a system that is easily available all across the country. Without such a system, benefits of the telecom revolution, which encompasses provision of a variety of services, such as banking, money transfer, govt. Services, to the public will miss the intended target. It is therefore appropriate to revisit the issue of redressal of individual consumer complaints and grievances in the telecom space. This paper is issued with this objective.

This Paper presents an overview of the existing consumer grievance mechanisms and its efficacy, the mechanisms in place in other countries and within India in other sectors of similar size and its impact, the problem areas etc. It seeks views, opinions and comments from stakeholders on possible options to improve the existing grievance redressal mechanism, alternatives including establishing an office of Telecom Ombudsman etc.

Consultation Paper on Complaints/Grievance Redressal in Telecom Sector

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Showing 382 Submission(s)

Bhansali Bajarang 9 years 7 months ago

Alternate channel, other than the hierarchy working on field is required for redressal of grievences

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SUDHIR SALKE 9 years 7 months ago

Sir, I observed some telecom companies take advantage of legal terms by bothering regular customers, those, consumers can't tackle lonely. And considering the money and time they gives up the money to save the time and headache. Also, the BSNL have failed to fulfil on-line connection requests, due to non performing employees, there should be provision of compulsory consumer feedback for performance of any BSNL (field and authorised) employees.

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Sunil Gautam 9 years 7 months ago

TRAI in their consultation paper have suppressed the existing provision of Arbitrator in Indian Telegraph act u/s 7 (b) in this matter where by at DoT the arbitrators are already being appointed to resolve such grievances (although not in much cases) It would be appropriate to open such Ombudsman offices for addressing consumer complaints at public grievance offices under DoT at their existing Public Grievances offices instead of making a new channel to address public concerns.

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VIKAS SINGLA 9 years 7 months ago

To strengthen complaint redressal mechanism, the copy of complaint by user to TSPs should also be sent to TRAI provided email id and Out of the total complaints being resolved by TSPs at least 10% of complaints should be reviewed by TRAI office on random basis to check user satisfaction level in independent manner.

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Ramesh M 9 years 7 months ago

Dear Sir,The signals are very bad within Bengaluru and signals vary from one room to the other in my apartment and service providers market a lot about 2G, 3G, and 4G and charge extra amounts and there is no control for this... services are very poor and customers we end up paying huge money to them. On the other hand, BSNL is always lagging and not competing with the private companies so I personally feel that Telecom sector is still very backward, hope something can be done. thx Ramesh

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Sebi Thomas 9 years 7 months ago

Sir, the TRAI must take immediate and strict action on the internet data measurement. Whether it is broadband or mobile data, most of the ISP are cheating customers, only BSNL, MTNL and TATA are little better in this matter. If we download 1 MB file in any of this 3 and other ISP, we can see other ISP are showing very high usage. Service providers are cheating customers in fair Usage Policy (FUP). They offer unlimited, but after certain GB the speed will reduced to useless, same data cheating.

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Animesh Garg 9 years 7 months ago

Widespread corruption in attending complaints.Linemen preferably work for those who pay them. Quality of service very poor. No standard or SOP is followed. Let us make BSNL landline servicemen more accountable. There are instances that when I booked a complaint online I received SMS that my complaint has been attended and problem rectified even without actually attending and rectifying the problem. Only the complainant should close a complaint and not the BSNL staff. Make it punishable.

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ALOK GARG 9 years 7 months ago

Indian telegraph Act must be amended to nullify the judgement of General Manager Telecom vs M Krishnan. An Ombudsman must be set up by TRAI , similar to RBI Ombudsman for the settlement of grievance. Consumer Protection Act must be amended to include all telecom disputes between service provided and individual. As it is not possible for a common man to fight these telecom companies for amount such as 1000/- or so and these company by wrongly charging such amount from a large number of consumers.

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SAURABH ANAND_4 9 years 7 months ago

Sir, I would like to share my own experiences about the services of BSNL.There was no signal or connectivity on my phone when I was in Dhanbad near Kolakusma.When enquired than I came to know many of the residents are having BSNL Broadband but there is no service.I wanted to have BSNL Broadband in Gandhinagar (Gujarat) near Petroleum University Road.When I enquired from BSNL Gandhinagar Office,they stated that they don't have service in that area.BSNL need to change attitude as to compete.

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Samson Nainan 9 years 7 months ago

Accountability is lacking in BSNL. The staff working as line man upto the divisional engineer do not hold any accountability for excellent service to its customers, be it fixed LL, broadband or mobile service. The problem is the gut feeling in the employees of BSNL that "हमसे इतना ही हो सकता है" should go. There has to be a change in the attitude of service. The employees need to be proud of the opportunity they have in nation building. The change in attitude with accountability is the key.

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