@ksh@T 20 Report post Posted November 19, 2005 Inflated mobile bill? Call ombudsmanNEW DELHI: There is good news for more than 100 mn telecom subscribers. The government is planning to set up an ombudsman for consumer grievances. Currently, there is no specialised body which consumers can approach with their complaints. They can only approach courts, which is a long-drawn-out process. This makes operators very powerful as they often disconnect phones and threaten to withdraw the numbers given to subscribers. Consequently, most subscribers try to avoid any confrontation with the operators. The draft new telecom policy proposes to set up “the institution of Ombudsman for consumer grievances in the telecom sector.” About one year ago, the regulator had proposed setting up an ombudsman for consumer grievances. However, the department of telecommunications (DoT) had not taken any action on it. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) Act empowers the regulator to make recommendations on laying down the standards of quality of service (QOS) to be provided by service providers and conduct periodical surveys of telecom services so as to protect the interest of consumers. However, it is not empowered to look into the grievances of individual customers. Moreover, it cannot take any action against an operator that does not meet QOS standards. In its last survey, Trai had pointed out that 40 out of 63 operators did not meet the “100% new connections to be provided within seven days after registration of demand” benchmark. With regard to fault incidences, the “three faults per 100 subscribers per month” benchmark was not met by most of the operators. In the cellular mobile sector, 85 licensees reported their performance in QOS parameters in 24 service areas, while 23 did not meet the benchmark of “greater than 99% call success rate within the licensee's own network.” Moreover, a large number of subscribers face billing-related problems. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
ashoksoft 83 Report post Posted November 19, 2005 Following other countries at last .... this is what has been in place for ages in countries like UK. The ombudsman will mean that the companies around will also have to act more responsibly ... and not keep launching and cancelling schemes all the time. Cheers Ashok Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
RajanPERT 0 Report post Posted November 19, 2005 Finally a Good thinking of Govt. Now we have some one to tell about thier experience and hope will always found some solution there. Great Work DOT. Thanks and Take Care! Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
adforsaj 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2005 Very good news. Hope as Government's thinking is beautiful, Implemention is also beautiful. Keep Replying. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
linuxguy 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2005 uh...lets not get all excited here. First lets see it in action and if it actually works then we have something to be happy about Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Utsav 0 Report post Posted November 20, 2005 What does ombudsman mean? Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
anujit 0 Report post Posted November 21, 2005 Ombudsman is a sort of mediator who also investigates complaints between consumers etc and govt. or other instituitions. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
@ksh@T 20 Report post Posted November 21, 2005 well its just a beginning man...its india i think govt doesnt acts like lil ambani who just promises and does nothing or maybe "good for nothing" ........ Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
