Lok Sabha Question No. 3053 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-03-16
Subject: Consumer Complaints
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: R.K. BHARATHI MOHAN

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.3053

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 16 th  MARCH, 2016

## CONSUMER COMPLAINTS

## 3053. SHRI BHARATHI MOHAN R.K.:

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

- (a) whether  consumers'  complaints  about  bills, connectivity, mobile  portability, harassment, etc. against mobile service providers are increasing;
- (b) if so, the details of complaints received during the last one year and the current year, service provider-wise; and
- (c) the  action  taken  against  the  erring  service  providers/officials  for  their  failure  to address the complaints of the subscribers in an effective and time bound manner?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) & (b) Yes Madam, there is slight increase in consumer complaints against few mobile  service  providers.  Number  of  complaints  against  different  mobile  service providers received during 2014 and 2015 in DOT and TRAI are enclosed at Annexure-I & II respectively.
- (c) Action taken by Government to resolve and contain the public complaints are:
- i. Complaints received in DOT and TRAI are being forwarded to concerned service providers for their resolution.
- ii. For  effective  resolution  of  consumer  complaints,  TRAI  has  laid  down  the standards of  quality  of  service  parameters  relating  to  time  limit  for  fault  repair, billing  complaints,  refund  of  security  deposits  and  rent  rebate  for  delayed  fault repair. TRAI has been monitoring the performance of service providers against the benchmarks for these parameters through quarterly performance monitoring reports  submitted  by  the  service  providers.  Wherever  the  quality  of  service benchmark  is  not  met,  financial  disincentives  are  imposed  so  that  the  service providers improve their performance.
- iii.  TRAI has issued Telecommunication Mobile Number Portability (Fourth Amendment)  Regulations,  2012  providing  financial  disincentives  for  unjustified rejection  of  porting  request  and  for  violation  of  timelines  specified  in  the regulations.
- iv. Government PSUs (BSNL/MTNL) are using social media for receiving complaints and suggestions from customers for better customer satisfaction.

Annexure - I Complaints received in DOT

| S. No.   | Name of Service Provider   |   2014 |   2015 |
|----------|----------------------------|--------|--------|
| 1        | Aircel                     |   1281 |   1455 |
| 2        | Airtel                     |   3754 |   4404 |
| 3        | BSNL                       |  18165 |  29272 |
| 4        | IDEA                       |   2257 |   2189 |
| 5        | LOOP                       |    141 |     32 |
| 6        | MTNL                       |  13588 |  10317 |
| 7        | MTS/SSTL                   |    541 |    697 |
| 8        | HFCL                       |     36 |     59 |
| 9        | Reliance                   |   4465 |   4375 |
| 10       | Tata                       |   1762 |   1158 |
| 11       | Uninor/ Telewings          |    492 |    285 |
| 12       | Videocon                   |     60 |    128 |
| 13       | Vodafone                   |   3655 |   3263 |
| Total    | Total                      |  50197 |  57634 |

Contd….3/-

-3-

Complaints received in TRAI

| S. No.   | Name of Service Provider   |   2014 |   2015 |
|----------|----------------------------|--------|--------|
| 1        | Aircel                     |   1061 |   1082 |
| 2        | Airtel                     |   3919 |   6135 |
| 3        | BSNL                       |    838 |   1526 |
| 4        | IDEA                       |   2149 |   2599 |
| 5        | LOOP                       |    337 |      0 |
| 6        | MTNL                       |    112 |    523 |
| 7        | MTS/SSTL                   |    470 |    800 |
| 8        | HFCL                       |      2 |     19 |
| 9        | Reliance                   |   3059 |   3528 |
| 10       | Tata                       |   1479 |   1465 |
| 11       | Uninor/ Telewings          |    246 |    193 |
| 12       | Videocon                   |     43 |     49 |
| 13       | Vodafone                   |   4779 |   5394 |
| Total    | Total                      |  18494 |  23313 |

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Annexure - II