India's leading mobile service operator Bharti airtel, Reliance Communications (Rcom) and Vodafone Essar are on top when it comes to their Mobile Service users complaints related to Billing & Tariff related issues and Activation of chargeable Value Added Services (VAS) without explicit consent of the customer.
Indian telecom watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been receiving complaints against all the leading private Mobile Service Providers alleging various problems which include billing, metering & tariff related issues and activation of chargeable value added services without explicit consent of the customer.
According to the information given by Minister of State for Communication and IT. Mr Sachin Pilot's in Lok Sabha, In last 3 years TRAI received the maximum 3571 complaints against Airtel followed by 2,151 from Reliance customers and 1,896 from Vodafone Essar customers, 1239 from Tata Docomo customers and 925 from Idea Cellular customers lodged against them for Overcharging by their mobile service operators.
The operator-wise details of complaints against private mobile service providers during last three years is given as under:
The above complaints are forwarded by TRAI to the concerned service providers for appropriate action/resolution.
TRAI has notified the Telecom Consumers Protection and redressal of Grievances Regulations, 2007 which makes it mandatory for every service provider to establish a three tier system consisting of Call center, Nodal officer and Appellate Authority for redressal of grievances of telecom consumers. The regulation also outlines the processes, procedures and time limits.
In order to improve the effectiveness of the grievance redressal system, TRAI has issued a Consultation Paper on review measures to protect interest of consumers in the telecom sector.
A telecom operator can offer at any given point of time a maximum of 25 tariff plans in a service area. The cap of 25 tariff plans(post paid and prepaid inclusive) is applicable on the Service segments of Fixed wireline, Fixed wireless , Mobile(GSM) and Mobile(CDMA) separately.
