Cellcos for self-regulation
The cellular industry improves the quality of service and is turning towards self-regulations to address consumer grievances. All mobile service providers will soon come out with a “manual of practice” (MoP) which will tell their consumers of the redressal mechanisms, where and how to register their complaints, the timelines within which the consumer grievances would be attended to and the steps they can resort to if their grievances go unaddressed.
The cellular Operators Association of India, the body representing all GSM operators replied to Trai’s consultation paper on ‘redressal of consumer grievances and consumer protection in telecommunications’ that the COAI in close coordination with other industry associations would undertake to draft a common industry MoP.
Industry associations and operators have pointed out that Trai’s proposal for three-tiered redressal mechanism at the levels of call centre, nodal officer and an internal appellate officer of deal with individual consumer grievances had already been implemented all service providers. On Trai’s proposal that operators state the timeframes by which the customer’s complaints are addressed at each of these levels.
Service providers will announce the setting up of an office of Ombudsman to address consumer grievances against their respective operators, on the lines of other consumer driven sectors. Some of the operators have also sought that it should not be made mandatory for the hard copies of the MoP to be issued to subscribers in this digital age.
For insurance, the Association of Unified Service Providors of India, the body representing CDMA and basic operators, and operators such as BSNL and Reliance Communications have said that MoP could be made available on the website of Trai and service providers.
