TRAI policy – Financial Disincentives for not meeting the Consumer centric parameters

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has been assessing on a periodic basis, customer perception of service and effectiveness in implementation of the various consumer centric regulations, directions and orders through:-

1. Surveys conducted by engaging independent agencies and publishing the results on TRAI web site for information of the stakeholders;
2. Through workshops organized in different parts of the country for educating and creating awareness among consumers about the various measures taken by TRAI for protecting the interest of consumers
3. Through feedbacks received from consumer organizations and consumers.

TRAI reviews the framework for redressal of complaints of telecom consumers from time to time as per need.

TRAI has recently imposed financial disincentives on cellular mobile service providers who were not meeting the benchmarks for the consumer centric parameters prescribed in the Quality of Service Regulations, based on the Performance Monitoring Reports for the quarter ending March, 2013 as per the details below:-

SrNo.	Service provider	Financial disincentive imposed
1	Aircel	Rs. 9,50,000
2	Airtel	Rs. 1,50,000
3	BSNL	Rs 4,00,000
4	IDEA	Rs 2,50,000
5	Reliance (Rcom & RTL)	Rs 9,00,000
6	TATA	Rs 4,00,000
7	Uninor	Rs 2,00,000
8	Vodafone	Rs. 4,00,000

The performance of the wire line service providers has improved in quarter ending March, 2013 as compared to the previous quarter in respect of the following Quality of Service parameters:-

• % age of faults repaired within 3 days (for urban area).
• % age of faults repaired within 5 days (for rural & hilly areas).
• Mean Time to Repair (MTTR).
• Answer to Seizure Ratio (ASR).
• Metering and billing credibility – post paid.
• Metering and billing credibility – pre paid.
• Resolution of billing/ charging/ validity complaints.
• Period of applying credit/waiver/adjustment to customer™s account from the date of resolution of complaints.

The performance of the wireless service providers too has improved in quarter ending March, 2013 as compared to the previous quarter in respect of the following Quality of Service parameters:-

• Base Transmitter Stations (BTSs) accumulated downtime (not available for service) .
• Worst affected BTSs due to downtime.
• Worst affected cells having more than 3% call drop rate.
• Metering and billing credibility – post paid.
• Metering and billing credibility – pre paid.
• Period of applying credit/ waiver/ adjustment to customer™s account from the date of resolution of complaints.
• % age requests for Termination / Closure of service complied within 7 days.
• Time taken for refund of deposits after closures.

This information was given by Shri Milind Deora, Minister of State for Communications and Information Technology in a written reply to a question in the Lok Sabha today.