Lok Sabha Question No. 3883 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-12-11
Subject: Complaints against Telecom Operators
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Rahul Ramesh Shewale, Bhartruhari Mahtab

- (a)

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 3883 TO BE ANSWERED ON 11 TH   DECEMBER, 2019

## COMPLAINTS AGAINST TELECOM OPERATORS

## 3883.   SHRI RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE: SHRI BHARTRUHARI MAHTAB:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  has  received  complaints  of subscribers  against  Telecom  Service  Providers (TSPs) and if so, the details thereof along with the number of such complaints received by the Government during each of the last three years and the current year, TSP-wise;
- (b) action taken by the TRAI on such complaints;
- (c) whether the TSP have been found guilty in addressing such complaints of subscribers in an effective and time bound manner;
- (d) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken by the Government against such TSPs;
- (e) whether the TRAI has any mechanism to monitor the efforts taken by the TSPs in addressing the grievances of subscribers;
- (f) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (g) the other corrective steps taken/ being taken by the Government in this direction?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS, HUMAN RESOURCE DEVELOPMENT AND ELECTRONICS & INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SANJAY DHOTRE)

- Sir, total numbers of complaints against Telecom Service Providers are as under: 1. Complaints received by TRAI:

|   Year 2016 |   Year 2017 |   Year 2018 |   Year 2019 (Jan. to November) |
|-------------|-------------|-------------|--------------------------------|
|       19819 |       21332 |       32265 |                          26402 |

TSP wise details are enclosed at Annexure-I.

## 2. Complaints received by Government:

|   Year 2016 |   Year 2017 |   Year 2018 |   Year 2019 (Jan. to November) |
|-------------|-------------|-------------|--------------------------------|
|       60241 |       69406 |       54257 |                          44890 |

TSP wise details are enclosed at Annexure-II.

(b) to (f) TRAI  Act,1997  does  not  envisage  handling  of  individual  consumer  complaints  by TRAI.    However,  complaints  received  in  TRAI  are  forwarded  to  concerned  service  provider  for appropriate  action.    TRAI  has  mandated  all  Telecom  Service  Providers  to  establish  a  two-tier complaint/grievance  redressal  mechanism  for  handling  consumer  complaints.    In  terms  of  this mechanism, a consumer can lodge service related complaints at the complaint centre of their Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). In case complaint is not redressed satisfactorily by the service provider at the complaint centre, an appeal can be registered with Appellate Authority of the TSPs.

(g) In  case  a  grievance  is  not  redressed  even  after  exhausting  the  procedure  as  prescribed  by TRAI, the complainant may approach Public Grievance Cell of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) along with all documentary evidence(s) for non-redrassal of his grievance at concerned Service Provider level. Complainant may submit grievance in either of the following ways:

(i)  by  hand    (ii)    post  (iii)  fax  (iv)  phone  Or  (v)  CPGRAMS  Web  Portal-    URL  : http://www.pgporal.gov.in.

The complaints so registered in DoT are forwarded to the concerned service provider/subordinate organization(s) with an advice to take appropriate  action in the matter and to inform  the  complainant  regarding  the  action  taken  towards  the  redressal  of  grievance.    All  the complaints received in DoT are  monitored in a transparent, user friendly and structured manner by DoT staff and officers.  DoT also provides an option to the complainant to raise his/her grievance through social media like twitter.

Apart from above DoT  also took initiative to bring telecom consumers under the ambit of Consumer Protection Act, 2019.

Further, DoT  is also considering to set-up Telecom Ombudsman for addressing the  telecom consumer grievances.

## Annexure-I

## Number of Complaints Received in TRAI against Telecom Service Providers

| S.No.   | Service Provider                                 |   2016 |   2017 |   2018 |   2019* |
|---------|--------------------------------------------------|--------|--------|--------|---------|
| 1       | Aircel Cellular Limited                          |    777 |    552 |   1821 |      13 |
| 2       | Dishnet Wireless Ltd                             |      0 |      0 |      1 |       0 |
| 3       | Bharti Airtel Ltd. (Airtel)                      |   6599 |   6932 |  12041 |    9150 |
| 4       | Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL)              |    963 |    819 |   1102 |    1236 |
| 5       | Loop Mobile (India) Ltd.                         |      1 |      0 |      0 |       0 |
| 6       | Loop Telecom Limited                             |      0 |      0 |      0 |       0 |
| 7       | Quadrant Televentures Ltd (HFCL)                 |     26 |     29 |      9 |       1 |
| 8       | Idea Cellular Ltd. (Idea)                        |   2131 |   2594 |   3380 |    2129 |
| 9       | Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (MTNL)            |    318 |    268 |    295 |     195 |
| 10      | Reliance Communications Ltd. (Reliance)          |   3429 |   2689 |   1108 |      10 |
| 11      | Reliance Telecom Ltd                             |      4 |      5 |      0 |       2 |
| 12      | S Tel Private Ltd. (S Tel)                       |      0 |      0 |      0 |       0 |
| 13      | Sistema Shyam Teleservices Ltd (MTS)             |    405 |    176 |     80 |       0 |
| 14      | Tata Teleservices Ltd. (TTSL)                    |    771 |    601 |    753 |     289 |
| 15      | Unitech Wireless (Tamil Nadu) Pvt. Ltd. (Uninor) |    105 |     70 |     87 |       1 |
| 16      | Vodafone India Limited (Vodafone)                |   4210 |   5394 |   8278 |    9190 |
| 17      | Videocon Telecommunication Ltd. (Videocon)       |     36 |      7 |      2 |       1 |
| 18      | Etisalat D.B. Telecom Pvt. Ltd. (Etisalat)       |      1 |      0 |      0 |       2 |
| 19      | Reliance JioInfocomm Ltd                         |     43 |   1196 |   3308 |    4183 |
| Total   | Total                                            |  19819 |  21332 |  32265 |   26402 |

## Annexure-II

| List of TSPs                                       | Total Number of complaints received   |   Total Number of complaints received |   Total Number of complaints received |   Total Number of complaints received |
|----------------------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| List of TSPs                                       | 2019 (till 30.11.2019)                |                                  2018 |                                  2017 |                                  2016 |
| Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited Corporate Office      | 18959                                 |                                 17155 |                                 28264 |                                 35319 |
| Etisalat DB Telecom Pvt. Ltd                       | 1                                     |                                     0 |                                     1 |                                     0 |
| M/s Vodafone Essar Mobile Services Ltd             | 3334                                  |                                  3757 |                                  3999 |                                  2741 |
| M/s.Aditya Birla Telecom Ltd.                      | 17                                    |                                    10 |                                     8 |                                     0 |
| M/s.Aircel Cellular Ltd.                           | 81                                    |                                   709 |                                   631 |                                  1022 |
| M/s.Bharti Airtel Ltd.                             | 5540                                  |                                  7111 |                                  7843 |                                  4326 |
| M/s.HFCLInfotel Ltd.                               | 4                                     |                                    16 |                                    54 |                                    39 |
| M/s.Idea Cellular Ltd.                             | 1504                                  |                                  2572 |                                  3104 |                                  2056 |
| M/s.Reliance Communications Ltd.                   | 246                                   |                                   855 |                                  3425 |                                  4614 |
| M/s.Tata Teleservices Maharashtra Ltd.             | 140                                   |                                   385 |                                   693 |                                   798 |
| Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited Corporate office | 10711                                 |                                 16584 |                                 17620 |                                  7929 |
| Reliance JioInfocomm Limited                       | 4339                                  |                                  4974 |                                  3353 |                                   811 |
| Sistema Shyam Telecom Services                     | 8                                     |                                    49 |                                   175 |                                   343 |
| Telewings Communications                           | 6                                     |                                    80 |                                   236 |                                   243 |
| Total                                              | 44890                                 |                                 54257 |                                 69406 |                                 60241 |

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