Reliance Infocomm Legal Eagles To...

[Arun 795]

Reliance Info legal eagles to swoop down on defaulters

TIMES NEWS NETWORK [ FRIDAY, AUGUST 13, 2004 12:40:56 AM ]

MUMBAI: Struck with huge defaults and bad debts, Reliance Infocomm has hired over 200 lawyers across the country to crack down on defaulters legally, sources familiar with the development said.

The company, in association with its retailers, is also offering defaulting consumers the option to pay Rs 1,800-3,000 and switch to pre-paid schemes or terminate the service.

Sources said a defaulter has to pay Rs 1,800 in Maharashtra to migrate to pre-paid, but in northern and eastern states like Bihar and UP, where defaults are astronomical, the amount is Rs 3,000.

Customers can pay this amount even if they have a higher outstanding default, sources said. However, a Reliance Infocomm official said it would take steps to retrieve the balance amount.

Although GSM operators like BPL have pegged 1.5% as default amount (Rs 15 crore) of their total revenue (Rs 1,000 crore), for Reliance Infocomm it is close to 22.1% of its revenue (Rs 2,007 crore).

The massive subscription drive calling for owning a phone with down payment of Re 1 to Rs 501 caught the attention of these defaulting customers also, says a telecom analyst.

The hiccups and cross-connects in schemes like Monsoon Hungama are being corrected, the official said. A Reliance Infocomm spokesperson declined to comment either on the offer or on the hiring of lawyers.

The largest GSM operator, Bharti Televentures, which has a subscriber base of 80.6 lakh, has not made any provisioning for bad debts. Hutch officials declined to comment on their defaults.

A senior official said: "We've started identifying defaulters and have signed up lawyers to handle them. The company, trade and retail partners will share responsibility of payment defaults."

Retailers have been assigned to offer schemes that will clear dues partially or fully, the official said. Now they will take responsibility of a customer, he said.

Reliance Infocomm commands a subscriber base of 60 lakh post-paid users and 20 lakh pre-paid ones.

[Chirag 5]

Now i call this real SMART !

First u get tht person to come to the WW and pay 2000 bucks and get his complete Details with Signature and then sue him in court of law.. with a massive amt of lawyers...

Now did some1 say that Reliance was favouring the defaulters

[Arun 795]

I dont think they will sue those who paid Rs.2000 to clear the pending dues. The customer doesnt even have to provide his signature or address while paying the money. Reliance may run after customers who had very large bills like above Rs.25000 and ask them to pay more.

[Mahidhar 3]

yeah ... my friend was told that if a person had an outstanding amount of 35,000 then he would have to pay 10,000 first to bring it to 25,000 and after this pay another 2000 to convert to prepaid. so they're still using the 25,000 benchmark. so chirag, i guess defaulters are allowed to talk for 25,000 and pay nothing !

[Greens 21]

Outstanding amount below 25,000 and without legal cases can be migrated to prepaid (provided single connection in one application, even corporate connections are eligible).

Defaulters above 25,000, can negotiate and can get waiver upto 40% on the entire amount.

Now credit limit is very strict, your outgoing will be barred if you cross Rs.2000.