After two years of rigorous consultation process, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has finalised the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012. These regulations will replace the Telecom Consumers Protection and Redressal of Grievances Regulations issued by TRAI in May 2007. The new regulations provides for establishing a complaint centre, setting up a general information number, setting the time limit for redressal of complaints, establishing and composing an appellate authority for redressal of complaints, among other things.

In a related development, with a view to protect the interest of telecom consumers and particularly the prepaid consumers, TRAI has also issued the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012. Notwithstanding the several steps taken by TRAI in the past, with a view to enhance transparency in tariff offers, the authority continues to receive complaints and representations from consumers and their representatives allege lack of effective transparency and resultant confusion for subscribers due to the multiplicity of tariff plans of various nature available in the market. The new regulations are aimed at addressing these issues. A brief summary of the regulations is provided below...

Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012

TRAI has mandated all operators to set up a complaint centre that would have a toll-free number and can be accessed by a subscriber of even another mobile operator. Such a centre would be responsible in addressing all complaints it receives. Further, all operators have to set up a web-based complaint monitoring system (by February 2012), through which the consumer can track their complaints, according to the regulations. As per the rule document, every complaint centre has to be accessible to the consumers between 0800 hours and 2400 hours on all days of week.

During the initial consultation process, many consumer organisations raised concerns about accessibility of the nodal officer. The regulator has thus decided to do away with the three-tier complaint redressal mechanism to replace it with a two-tier system which comprises a call centre, nodal centre and appellate authority; doing away with the nodal officer. According to TRAI, complaint centres are essentially registration and response centres, and do not deal with the resolution of complaints. They only facilitate registration of consumer complaints; and the level at which a problem is resolved within a company depends on the complexity of the issue involved.

Concerns were expressed by customers about difficulty in navigating the Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) menu at the call centre and that they are unable to speak to a customer care agent. The new rules from TRAI therefore have a provision prescribing the manner in which the IVRS menu shall be managed like speaking to a customer care agent. It has been mandated that every complaint shall be registered by giving a unique docket number. This number would remain in the system for at least three months. Information including docket number, date and time of registration, time limit for resolution of the complaint as well action taken would be communicated to the consumer.

If the consumer is not satisfied with the resolution of the complaints, he can approach the next tier – the Appellate Authority for redressal of his complaints. It has been decided that there would be two-member advisory committee comprising of one representative of consumer organisation registered with TRAI and one member from the service provider to aid the appellate authority on every appeal filed before it.

The new regulations also provide for time bound resolution of complaints received by the authority and referred to the service provider.

Further, the regulations state that the mobile operators have to publish a citizen's charter that will contain different time-frames specified by the authority for various complaints and various procedures related to services - such as mobile number portability, amount to be deducted and consumer's rights.

Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012

TRAI has mandated a start-up kit (SUK) that needs to be provided to each consumer at the time of enrolment of the subscriber to the telecom service provided by a service provider. SUK will contain the SIM card, if applicable; mobile number; and an abridged version of the Citizen’s Charter provided under the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations 2012.

The vouchers offered by the service providers have been simplified and standardised into three categories- Plan Voucher, Top Up Voucher and Special Tariff Voucher (STV).

• The Plan Voucher shall be used for enrolling a consumer into a tariff plan. A new consumer or an existing consumer can be enrolled into a tariff plan only through this Voucher.
• The Top Up Voucher shall contain only monetary value in rupees and such monetary value shall be without any restrictions in terms of validity period or usage.
• The “Special Tariff Voucher” or “STV” could alter one or more items of applicable tariff in the consumer tariff plan in terms of limited or unlimited usage of voice calls, SMS or data but does not provide any monetary value. The validity of the STV shall not exceed ninety days.

To promote further transparency and easy identification by consumers, a distinct colour band has been mandated to be provided on the reverse of the each voucher. The Plan Voucher will have a red colour band, the Top Up Voucher a green colour band and the Special Tariff Voucher a yellow colour band.

To ensure that a prepaid consumer is aware of the charges made on his last call or data usage, the service providers have been mandated to inform the consumer, through SMS, about the deduction from his account – after every call made or after every data usage session. This information will include the duration of the call or usage, the charges deducted, balance available, quantum of data usage. The consumer can also get details of his tariff plan, available balance in his account and details of any value added service activated on his telephone number at any time from the service provider, free of charge.

To ensure that a prepaid consumer get their itemised usage of his account, the service providers have been mandated to provide the same within 30 days to the consumer on request and at a reasonable cost not exceeding Rs 50.

A provision has been made in the regulation to ensure that the charges for premium rate service are conveyed through a voice alert before materialisation of the call to such services. Similarly, on activation of any value added service by a consumer, he should receive information about the charges, validity period and the procedure to unsubscribe from the service.