Lok Sabha Question No. 1794 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2022-07-27
Subject: Poor Telecom Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Sadashiv Kisan Lokhande, Sunil Kumar Mondal

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1794 TO BE ANSWERED ON 27 TH  JULY, 2022

## POOR TELECOM SERVICES

## 1794.  SHRISADASHIV KISAN LOKHANDE SHRI SUNIL KUMAR MONDAL

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether the Government Telecom Regulatory of India (TRAI) has taken cognizance of the rise in complaints and other grievances of consumers against telecom operators for the deficit and unsatisfactory service during the last five years;
- (b) if so, the details thereof along with the action taken / being taken in this regard and if not, the reasons therefor;
- (c) the State-wise details including the number of such complaints received during the last three years and the number of complaints resolved out of these till date; and
- (d) the action taken by the Government after carrying out inquiry in this regard?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS (SHRI DEVUSINH CHAUHAN)

(a) to (d) In order to protect the interest of consumers, Telecom Regulatory of India (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.

In  case  a  complaint  is  not  redressed  even  after  exhausting  the  two  tier  procedure  as prescribed by the TRAI, the complainants may approach Public Grievance wing of Department of Telecommunications (DoT) for resolution of their grievances. All the grievances so received are monitored and resolved through the Centralized Public Grievance Redressal and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) Portal (www.pgportal.gov.in).

TRAI  is  monitoring  performance  of  Service  Providers  through  Quarterly  Performance Reports received from the Service providers against the various benchmarks fixed in respect of parameters given in the regulations framed by TRAI.  These regulations have been amended from time to time as per requirements arisen.

During last five  years,  TRAI has taken following  actions to improve the quality  of service thereby reducing consumer complaints:-

- a. In  year  2017,  reviewed  the  parameters  related  to  Call  Drop  and  its  prescribed benchmarks.
- b. In year 2018, parameters related to Down-link packet drop rate and Up-link packet drop rate introduced.
- c. In  year  2018,  revised  regulatory  framework  introduced  to  curb  the  Unsolicited Commercial Communications.
- d. In year 2019, Time duration of alert for an incoming voice call introduced.
- e. In year 2020, regulation issued to strengthen consumer protection measures with respect to International Mobile Roaming Services

TRAI received Performance Report License Service Area wise. So state-wise data is not available in TRAI.  License Area wise details of complaints received by Service Providers during the last  three  years  (Calendar  Year wise) and number of  such  complaints as on 31.03.2022 are attached as Annexure.

In  case  TSPs  are  not  meeting  the  benchmarks  for  the  parameters  defined  under  QoS regulations,  then  Financial  disincentives  are  imposed  on  the  TSPs  who  have  not  met  the benchmarks.

Annexure License Area wise (LSA) wise details of complaints received by Service Providers during the last three years and current year till 31.03.2022

| S No   | LSA                  | 2019        | 2020        | 2021        | 2022 (till 31.3.2022)   | Pending complaints as on 31.03.2022   |
|--------|----------------------|-------------|-------------|-------------|-------------------------|---------------------------------------|
| 1      | Andhra Pradesh       | 19,38,287   | 19,02,884   | 32,68,443   | 8,82,318                | 51,437                                |
| 2      | Assam                | 5,10,530    | 6,21,470    | 9,73,400    | 2,19,912                | 16,999                                |
| 3      | Bihar                | 17,43,040   | 20,44,196   | 41,53,854   | 11,82,498               | 12,919                                |
| 4      | Delhi                | 49,81,549   | 47,31,992   | 64,94,962   | 16,09,314               | 54,154                                |
| 5      | Gujarat              | 22,63,074   | 22,67,002   | 34,13,594   | 7,92,834                | 37,405                                |
| 6      | Haryana              | 6,25,661    | 8,40,245    | 21,36,274   | 5,11,592                | 15,401                                |
| 7      | Himachal Pradesh     | 88,393      | 1,72,846    | 2,80,048    | 71,486                  | 4,153                                 |
| 8      | Karnataka            | 21,44,837   | 24,71,280   | 27,34,054   | 2,90,983                | 34,678                                |
| 9      | Kerala               | 25,82,889   | 18,80,842   | 23,32,619   | 6,59,740                | 22,109                                |
| 10     | Jammu &Kashmir       | 2,23,809    | 1,82,815    | 9,83,490    | 4,65,829                | 38,038                                |
| 11     | Kolkata              | 13,58,933   | 11,99,582   | 15,81,353   | 3,39,998                | 16,348                                |
| 12     | Madhya Pradesh       | 17,33,601   | 17,48,781   | 28,13,441   | 6,12,173                | 25,956                                |
| 13     | Maharashtra          | 55,20,781   | 40,07,201   | 62,13,212   | 12,46,460               | 43,024                                |
| 14     | Mumbai               | 37,67,485   | 30,04,783   | 36,39,855   | 8,45,660                | 47,598                                |
| 15     | North East           | 1,85,489    | 1,94,557    | 3,09,927    | 74,160                  | 6,568                                 |
| 16     | Odisha               | 6,75,922    | 6,34,865    | 9,55,198    | 1,83,886                | 11,427                                |
| 17     | Punjab               | 11,31,398   | 12,85,088   | 22,04,893   | 4,96,404                | 29,483                                |
| 18     | Rajasthan            | 12,16,911   | 14,50,699   | 28,93,050   | 7,58,576                | 23,096                                |
| 19     | Tamil Nadu           | 18,46,775   | 22,74,615   | 40,28,157   | 9,44,166                | 25,507                                |
| 20     | Uttar Pradesh (East) | 29,28,824   | 49,04,063   | 64,24,158   | 13,83,767               | 32,053                                |
| 21     | Uttar Pradesh (West) | 35,68,882   | 35,92,040   | 46,36,521   | 10,05,919               | 21,506                                |
| 22     | West Bengal          | 14,08,124   | 13,99,090   | 27,26,806   | 5,96,512                | 10,614                                |
|        | Total                | 4,24,45,194 | 4,28,10,936 | 6,51,97,309 | 1,51,74,187             | 5,80,473                              |

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