Lok Sabha Question No. 6 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-02-24
Subject: Telephone Complaints
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: GOPAL CHINAYYA SHETTY

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.6 TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016 TELEPHONE COMPLAINTS

- †6. SHRI GOPAL SHETTY:

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  this  Ministry  has  issued  any  guidelines  in  1996  thereby  had  fixed  a certain  timeframe  for  attending  complaints  such  as  transfer  of  telephone  connection, rectifying faults, etc.;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  thereof  along  with  the  timeframe  fixed  for  disposal  of  various complaints and requests;
- (c) the  number  of  complaints  received  by  BSNL/MTNL  officers  regarding  nondisposal of the said services as per the said guidelines during the last three years and the current year; and
- (d) the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  ensure  the  strict  compliance  of  the guidelines??

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a)   Yes Madam, Ministry had issued such instructions on 25.06.1996 thereby had fixed a certain time frame for attending complaints such as transfer of telephone connections, rectifying the faults etc.
- (b)  Earlier the time frames for attending the complaints as per 1996 instructions were:-
- i. Local shifting of telephone within same exchange should be completed within 7 days.
- ii. Inter-exchange shifting should be completed within 15 days.
- iii. Inter-State shifting should be completed within one month.
- iv. Repair of faulty telephone within 48 hours.
- v. Telephone connection should be installed and energized within 15 days from the issue of OB.

However, later TRAI has issued Telecom Consumer Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012. Accordingly, the complaints/service requests have to be redressed by  the  service  providers  within  the  time  limits  laid  down  in  the  Quality  of  Service Regulations  issued  by  TRAI.  Wherever,  no  time  limit  is  prescribed  in  the  Quality  of Service Regulations the complaint/ service requests has to be redressed within 3 days. In the Quality of Service Regulations the time limits prescribed for various complaints/service requests are given below:

- a. For Basic Services:

(i)

Fault repair

Urban areas

: 5 days

Rural and Hilly areas : 7 days

- (ii) Resolution of billing complaints

: 6 weeks & adjustment

of wavier to be given within 7 days

- (iii) Termination/ Closure of service

: 7 days

- (iv) Refund of deposits after Closure

: 60 days

- b. For Cellular services

(i) Resolution of billing complaints : 6 weeks & adjustment of wavier to be given within 7 days

- (ii) Termination / Closure of service                 : 7 days

- (iii) Refund of deposits after closures               : 60 days

- c. For Broadband services

- (i) Provisioning of service

: 15 days

- (ii) Fault repair

: 99% in 3 days

- (iii) Resolution of Billing complaints : 4 weeks

- (iv) Refund of deposits after Closure

: 60 days

(c) BSNL and MTNL attempts to promptly rectify the faults and achieve the qualities of service parameters  as prescribed by Telecom  Regulatory  Authority of India (TRAI). As per BSNL, all technically feasible connections are provided and shifted within the  prescribed  time  limit.  The  number  of  cases  not  meeting  the  1996  guidelines pertaining to MTNL are given in Annexure-I.

(d)

- i. TRAI has been monitoring the performance of the service providers against the benchmarks  for  Quality  of  Service  parameters  including  the  above  time  limit, through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports and financial disincentives are imposed  for  non-compliance.  TRAI  has  also  been  monitoring  the  redressal  of complaints by service providers including BSNL & MTNL and has been pursing with them to improve Quality of Service.
- ii. BSNL and MTNL have taken the following steps to meet Quality of Service:-
3.  Day to day monitoring is being done to meet the set guidelines.
4.  Network upgradation is being done.
5.  Optical fiber connectivity is also being used.
6.  More and more pole-less activity is being carried out, 5 pair cable is being used in place of drop wires to reduce the fault rate.
7.  Plans to introduce State of art NGN network in a progressive manner in BSNL.
8.  Regular  patrolling of important cable routes to  prevent cable thefts/cable damages.
9.  Coordination with local bodies to minimize cable damages due to road work.

-  Reduction in life of telephone instruments and liberal replacement of the same on receiving any complaint.
-  CDR project has been implemented in all 334 SSAs of BSNL spread across the country. Implementation of this project helps to reduce the problems faced by the customer. The request made by subscriber for the value added services on wireline is implemented immediately. Installation, reconnection/disconnection, provision of STD/ISD, choice of tariff plan etc. can be implemented very easily.
-  ERP project has been taken in a big way across BSNL. This will improve overall working of BSNL.
-  Since  the  faults  in  line  majorly  occurred  due  to  damage  of  cable  due  to landslides, road works etc in Hilly states, field units have been asked for close coordination  with  Local  Bodies,  PWD, Water  Authority  and  NHAI  authorities  in such states.
-  Instructions  have  been  given  to  all  the  field  units  to  closely  monitor  the  Fault Repair Service System, to improve the same day fault clearance and next day fault clearance.

Contd…….4/-

Annexure I

| MTNL, Delhi           | MTNL, Delhi          | MTNL, Delhi                               | MTNL, Delhi              | MTNL, Delhi                                | MTNL, Delhi          | MTNL, Delhi                              | MTNL, Delhi                  | MTNL, Delhi                                 | MTNL, Delhi      | MTNL, Delhi                         |
|-----------------------|----------------------|-------------------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------------------------|----------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------|-------------------------------------|
| Year                  | Local Shift (SS)     | Local Shift (SS)                          | Inter Exchange Shift (S) | Inter Exchange Shift (S)                   | Inter state Shift    | Inter state Shift                        | Out order Telephone (Faults) | Out order Telephone (Faults)                | New Telephones   | New Telephones                      |
|                       | No of cases received | No. of cases not redressed with in 7 days | No of cases received     | No. of cases not redressed with in 15 days | No of cases received | No. of cases not redressed with in Month | No of complaints received    | No. of cases not redressed with in 48 Hours | No. of OB issued | No. of OBs completed beyond 15 days |
| 2012-13               | 24593                | 2840                                      | 7045                     | 487                                        | -                    | -                                        | 2642473                      | 340033                                      | 84507            | 4761                                |
| 2013-14               | 21158                | 5913                                      | 5399                     | 908                                        | -                    | -                                        | 2933852                      | 334745                                      | 69258            | 5701                                |
| 2014-15               | 19261                | 3789                                      | 4925                     | 464                                        | -                    | -                                        | 2486923                      | 215520                                      | 60856            | 290                                 |
| 2015-16 (upto Dec.15) | 17449                | 2739                                      | 4193                     | 229                                        | -                    | -                                        | 2448063                      | 227183                                      | 45079            | 740                                 |

| MTNL, Mumbai          | MTNL, Mumbai         | MTNL, Mumbai                              | MTNL, Mumbai             | MTNL, Mumbai                               | MTNL, Mumbai         | MTNL, Mumbai                             | MTNL, Mumbai                 | MTNL, Mumbai                                | MTNL, Mumbai     | MTNL, Mumbai                        |
|-----------------------|----------------------|-------------------------------------------|--------------------------|--------------------------------------------|----------------------|------------------------------------------|------------------------------|---------------------------------------------|------------------|-------------------------------------|
| Year                  | Local Shift (SS)     | Local Shift (SS)                          | Inter Exchange Shift (S) | Inter Exchange Shift (S)                   | Inter state Shift    | Inter state Shift                        | Out order Telephone (Faults) | Out order Telephone (Faults)                | New Telephones   | New Telephones                      |
|                       | No of cases received | No. of cases not redressed with in 7 days | No of cases received     | No. of cases not redressed with in 15 days | No of cases received | No. of cases not redressed with in Month | No of complaints received    | No. of cases not redressed with in 48 Hours | No. of OB issued | No. of OBs completed beyond 15 days |
| 2012-13               | 30104                | 8976                                      | 12755                    | 2377                                       | -                    | -                                        | 2089047                      | 147183                                      | 85489            | 5318                                |
| 2013-14               | 37309                | 13195                                     | 15892                    | 3505                                       | -                    | -                                        | 2010769                      | 196158                                      | 75601            | 4248                                |
| 2014-15               | 29904                | 6348                                      | 8685                     | 1657                                       | -                    | -                                        | 1972201                      | 134883                                      | 66666            | 1377                                |
| 2015-16 (upto Dec.15) | 18628                | 2187                                      | 5370                     | 788                                        | -                    | -                                        | 1436579                      | 76857                                       | 39801            | 1473                                |