Yes, finally mobile users got something to cheer about as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released its ninth amendment to the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations (TCPR) 2012 on yesterday the 16th of October 2015.
As per the latest amendment, TRAI ordered all mobile telecom service providers to provide compensation to the consumers for every call dropped with effect from 1st January 2016 onwards. Mobile operators will have to pay a compensation of Re. 1 for every dropped calls, subject to a maximum of three such calls in a day.
The operator will have to send a message to the customer within four hours of a dropped call with details of the amount credited to his or her account. For postpaid customers, the details of the credit would need to be provided in the next bill.
According to TRAI, call drop represents service provider’s inability to maintain a call once it has been correctly established i.e., calls dropped or interrupted prior to their normal completion by the user, the cause of the early termination being within the service provider’s network.
In the past one year, consumers at various fora, have raised their issue of call drops, complaining that their experience of making voice calls has deteriorated. TRAI has issued a consultation paper on ‘Compensation to the consumers on the event of dropped calls’ and also conducted an open house discussion to get comments and suggestions from stake holders on this matter.
Details of TRAI Directions on Compensation to Mobile Users on Dropped Calls
(a) Credit the account of calling consumer by One Rupee
However, such credit in the account of the calling consumer shall be limited to three dropped calls in a day (00:00:00 hrs to 23:59:59 hrs)
(b) Send a message through SMS/USSD to the calling consumer within four hours of the occurrence of call drop and the details of amount credited in his/her account.
(c) In case of postpaid consumers, provide the details of the credit in the next bill.
The compensation to the consumers for call drops would become applicable from 01.01.2016 as the service providers would have to make suitable provisions in their systems.
TRAI is of the view that the mandated regime would provide relief to the consumers from the issue of call drops to some extent and spur the service providers to improve the Quality of Service.
Dear readers, please share your views and opinions about this latest TRAI direction via comments with us.
