Consumer Rights under TRAI Act By K.B.BRAHMADATHAN B.Sc ( Engg), M.Tech, F.I.E.T.E , ITS

1. Consumer Rights under TRAI Act By K.B.BRAHMADATHAN B.Sc ( Engg), M.Tech, F.I.E.T.E ,ITS Chief General Manager-Chennai Telephones-BSNL Welcome To A Talk on

2. Competition…. • Opening up of telecom sector to competition, with licences for a number of services being granted, the telecom sector has seen a tremendous growth in the recent past both in terms of number of operators,and subscriber base. • Along with this growth, there are, of course, problems for the stakeholders, including the consumers.

3. TRAI & Consumer.. • TRAI does not deal with the direct responsibility of redressing consumer grievances rather it sets standards • Standards for quality of service are fixed by TRAI. • Service provider measures Quality of service. • TRAI also appoints independent agencies for Quality Measurements. • Consumer interests are thus protected.

4. Lets fly by Night!! I have the capacity to carry any thing ! The Current Scenario competition Which way to go? Freebees, Freebees Free unlimited talktime

5. How to Sell These Days… Special Golf ball • A golfer, playing a round by himself, is about to tee off, when a salesman runs up to him and yells, “Wait! Before you tee off, I have something really amazing to show you!" • The golfer, annoyed, says, "what is it?""It's a special golf ball," says the salesman. "You can never lose it!"

6. How to sell these days… • "Whattaya mean," scoffs the golfer, "you can never lose it? What if you hit it into the water?" • "No problem," says the salesman. "It floats, and it detects where the shore is, and spins towards it." Magic Golfball

7. How to sell these days… Beeping and glowing ball • "Well, what if you hit it into the woods?""Easy," says the salesman. "It emits a beeping sound, and you can find it with your eyes closed." • "Okay," says the golfer, impressed. "But what if your round goes late and it gets dark?" • "No problem, sir, this golf ball glows in the dark! I'm telling you, you can never lose this golf ball!"

8. Sales ! • The golfer buys it at once. "Just one question," he says to the salesman. "Where did you get it?" • "I found it”. • Moral..Never believe in tall claims about a product.

9. What is best? • While buying a new product do not expect to buy the best every time with all facilities. • Today’s best is tomorrow’s “Antique”.

10. What Is Best? • Like choosing a PC or Life partner. • We always feel that, having chosen one ,if one had waited for a bit longer you’d have got a better model!

11. Today’s Nifty Products .. • During the heat of the space race in the 1960's, NASA decided it needed a pen to write in the zero gravity confines of its space capsules.

12. Today’s Nifty Products.. • After immense research astronaut pen was developed at a cost of $1 million. The pen worked and also enjoyed as a novelty item back here on earth. • Do you know what Russians did? • Used a pencil • Moral.. Choose a product for your need.

13. Quality.... • An astronaut in space was asked by a reporter, "how do you feel?""How would you feel," the astronaut replied, "if you were stuck here, on top of 20,000 parts each one supplied by the lowest bidder?“. • Moral. Quality has a price.

14. TRAI Regulations.. The TRAI came out with two regulations namely :- (I) regulation on quality of service of basic and cellular mobile telephone service, 2000 (2 of 2000) on 5th of July, 2000; (Ii) regulation on guidelines for registration of consumer Organisations/non-government Organisations (NGOs) and their interaction with TRAI,2001 (1 of 2001)

15. The Consumer Protection Act, 1986. Under the act, TRAI is supposed to lay down quality of service standards and TDSAT(Telecom Disputes settlement and Appellate tribunal) is supposed to adjudicate disputes between a service provider and a group of consumers. What a nice TV My lord !my Tv was not repaired

16. Present Interactions by TRAI… • By and large,Consumer Organisations & NGOs with sufficiently long background in the telecom sector, were permitted to be registered with TRAI. • The authority (TRAI) interacts with these Organisations on regular basis and it is at-least twice in a year.

17. What TRAI Is Doing.. • A number of workshops, seminars, and interactions have been organised for building up the capacity of these organisations. • These were done with a view to create awareness of the intricacies of the telecom sector amongst the consumers.

18. What TRAI Is Doing Contd... • By virtue of the provisions of sub-clause (v) of clause(b) of sub-section (1) of section 11 of TRAI act, 1997, TRAI is supposed to: • Lay-down the standards of quality of service to be provided by the service providers.

19. What TRAI Is Doing.. • Ensure the quality of service and conduct the periodical survey of such service provided by the service providers. • Protect interests of the consumers of telecom services. Consumer Service provider

20. BSNL’S Customer Care….. • Customer contacts service provider mainly for • Fault clearance • Dial xxxx1198 ( IVRS) • Dial 1500.( Call center) • Meet staff, executives DGM, GM…….CGM • Commercial complaints • Customer service centre. • Commercial officer • Billing complaints • AOTR • DE exchange • DGM, gm……CGM

21. Complaint Booking….. • Fault registration at • Exchange/CSC. • SSA HQ • Circle Office.. • Corporate office • DOT • DPG • Through internet

22. Customer Care DOT DPG Corporate Office CGM DGM/GM FIELD

23. Chennai Telephones Customer Grievance Mechanism Every Complaint received by CGM, Chennai Telephones is acted upon.For minor complaints the customers are spoken to, and for any major complaint, reply is given in writing CGM GM GM CAO, DGM DE,DGM FIELD FIELD TECHNICAL GRIEVANCE BILLING GRIEVANCE

24. System Overview GRIEVANCES F A X L T R T E L IN PERSON EMAIL PG CELL (BSNL/Circle/SSA/Any other Place) Dkt. No. Ack. Slip REGISTRATION Data Validation EDIT Docket REPORTS Sub Level Users Managers

25. Telephone/Telecom service faulty Delay in shifting of telephone Excess billing Non-receipt of bill Wrong disconnection Refund of deposit Main Types of Grievances

26. Corruption Miscellaneous grievance STD booth Urban/Rural dispute Main Types of Grievances ….

27. Grievance Classification • Receipt-source wise • Mode-wise

28. Honorable PM’s office Honorable MOC Honorable Cabinet ministers Honorable MPs State govt. Ministers MLAs Cabinet secretariat TRAI DOT PG cell BSNL PG cell CMD / Directors BSNL / MTNL BSNL Officers Govt. Organizations VIPs Reputed Private companies BSNL Customers General Public Press Others Source of Grievance List

29. Commercial Cell Direct by hand/In person E-mail Fax By Post 1094 / 1095 service Phone Office No. Telegram. Exchanges. Customer service center. Receipt Mode of Grievance

30. Summary Reports • All grievances registered during a given period • Pending grievances registered during a given period • Disposed grievances registered during a given period • Grievance Analysis – Daily, Weekly, Monthly

31. Additional Avenues Available for Redressal…. • The Indian Telegraph Act 1885 provides for the appointment of an arbitrator to go into complaints and grievances under sec 7B. • Consumer protection act 1986 looks into customer complaints.

32. Adalats The BSNL Initiative… • The telecom Adalats at the circle level are headed by the chief general manager (CGM) and that at the district level are headed by the concerned secondary switching area (SSA) heads. • The information of holding Adalats by CGM and SSA head are being given wide publicity through local newspapers and electronic media. • During Adalats cases are settled across the table.

33. The BSNL Initiative… • This is an internal arrangement only available in case of a public sector operator. • As per available information similar arrangements do not exist for private sector operators. • Our working is so transparent that we are criticised for the same.

34. TRAI Benchmarks & Initiative …..

35. The Magical Name…. • One way of ensuring fairness to consumers is through establishment of an office of ombudsman for the telecom sector.

36. Ombudsman In The TelecommunicationIndustry Australia: • The Australian government had appointed the telecommunications industry ombudsman (TIO) in 1993 as a body independent of the industry, the government and the consumer organizations. • Ombudsman has responsibility for the day-to-day operations of the scheme.

37. Ombudsman In The Telecommunication Industry • This an industry-funded scheme, deriving its income solely from the members who are charged fees for complaint resolution services. • Members consist of telecom carriers,telephone carriage providers and internet service providers.

38. Ombudsman In The Telecommunication Industry • A member is charged complaint handling fees if the TIO receives a complaint from one of its customers funding system acts as an incentive for members to keep TIO investigations to a minimum by developing and maintaining effective.

39. Ombudsman In The Telecommunication Industry United kingdom: • In U.K., The communications act, 2003 sets out the powers of the regulator, Ofcom(office of communications). • The telecom ombudsman, known as Otelohas been operating since January 2003. • Otelo is independent of the communications industry and the regulator.

40. Ombudsman In The Telecommunication Industry • It is managed by a council, which comprise people who, in most cases are not from the communications industry.

41. The Ombudsman in the Indian Scenario • The ministry of finance has appointed an ombudsman for the insurance sector. • The reserve bank of India has also appointed 15 ombudsmen for the banking sector.

42. The Ombudsman in the Indian Scenario Insurance sector: • All the expenses on the establishment of ombudsman and his staff is to be met by the insurance companies who are members of the insurance council.

43. The Ombudsman in the Indian Scenario • To have a formal method of customer grievance redressal especially for issues related to private operators –one of the solution is the ombudsman. • The role of TRAI as regulator must be on enforcing quality of service and penalising operators for slippages in target.

44. Towards Timely Consumer Redressal • Empowerment to enforce punishment on the operator in case of unsatisfactory remedial measures. • Enforcement of transparent complaint escalation procedures for all operators.

45. Thank Youfor Your Patient Hearing !