The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has made some significant changes to the Trai Tariff Regime, which was rolled out last year. These new rules govern what the customers pay for their channels, and subsequently for their DTH and cable TV services. However, that does not mean that Trai is solely focusing on the DTH industry for now. There are multiple areas which Trai wants to address as part of their agenda this year. One of the major issues which Trai has faced repeatedly is of complaints and its addressing. In a year, Trai receives millions of complaints from the consumers regarding DTH, telecom services, the network, telecom operators and others. However, until now, there was no solid management system for this with Trai. Since Trai has been laser-focused on bringing the consumer interest on the front and is working on this, Trai has today launched a new CMS - Complaint Management System application. As you can imagine, the complaint management system by Trai will help the telecom regulator in managing the complaints and will also aid in streamlining the whole complaint process.
App Available for Both iOS and Android
Like we mentioned above, the new complaint management system launched by Trai will help the consumers in resolving their complaints fast. Also, there would be rule-based redressal of complaints related to Value Added Services (VAS). Trai has noted in its release about the launch of new CMS saying the “the CMS portal or the app consumers will be able to fetch details of VAS services activated on their phone. Where double consent for VAS has not been recorded by TSPs, the consumers shall be able to file claims for the cost of VAS for one month. The claims, if any, will be settled by the respective TSPs only.” Trai has also noted that the newly launched application can be downloaded both for Android and iOS from the Google Play Store and the Apple App Store, respectively.
Trai Pilot Testing App
Another thing which the consumers should note is that this is simply a pilot launch of the application from Trai. This means that it is possible that the app might have a few bugs. Trai has also noted the same, that it will be seeking feedback from the consumers and based on that feedback, it will be making changes to the application.
During the tenure of getting services from telecom operators, the consumers face multiple issues. Sometimes, the consumers have services which are updated without their consent, and the subscribers are then billed against their will. In such cases, the consumers will be able to log into the application easily, and then log a complaint with Trai. Not only this, but the subscribers will be able to see the number of claims that they have logged and also they will be able to check the status of their claims. However, the complaints will be addressed by the respective telecom operator only.
Trai Working on App Since 2017
To recall, it was back in 2017 when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had talked about setting up of an Ombudsman in this regard for the resolution of the number of grievances. Trai had also said that there needs to be setting up of a different consumer complaint redressal system. Back them, Trai had suggested a three-step process for resolving complaints through this special application which would be resolving by TSPs, the decision by Consumer Grievance Redressal Forum (CGRF) — and determination by Telecom Ombudsman.
