Lok Sabha Question No. 2922 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-03
Subject: Violation of Call Billing Norms
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: SHARAD TRIPATHI

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.2922 TO BE ANSWERED ON 3 RD  AUGUST, 2016

## VIOLATION OF CALL BILLING NORMS

†2922. SHRI SHARAD TRIPATHI:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether telecom tariff of public sector telecommunication companies are more competitive than private sector telecommunication companies:
- (b) if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether  private  telecommunication  companies  in  contravention  of  Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) guidelines calculate the call period with the call ring for billing; and
- (d) if  so,  the  details  thereof  and  the  action  taken  by  the  Government  against telecom operators violating the directives of TRAI, operator-wise?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) & (b) As per the existing tariff framework, tariff for telecommunication access service is under forbearance except for National Roaming.  Public and private sector telecom companies offer tariff as a bouquet consisting of various component like local calls, STD,  ISD,  onnet/offnet calls, processing  free, free  minutes/data,  usage restrictions,  monthly  charges,  etc.    Whether  a  particular  set  of  tariff  is  competitive, would largely depend on the requirement of the class of subscribers availing the offer. All the public and private sector telecom companies are offering various competitive tariff schemes targeted at different class of subscribers. Further, with regards to public sector telecommunication companies, BSNL reviews its tariff from time to time on the basis of needs of customers, prevailing market conditions and TRAI guidelines and the  tariff  offered  by  BSNL  is  competitive  with  respect  to  Private  Sector  Telecom Companies.  BSNL has launched free incoming voice call facility while on National Roaming  for  its  mobile  customers.    For  its  landline  customers  across  the  country, BSNL  has  introduced  free  night  calling  (Local/STD)  between  9.00PM  to  7.00  AM. BSNL is also offering minimum 2MBPS  speed to its wireline broadband customers across  the  country  with  no  extra  charges.      As  far  as  MTNL  is  concerned  it  is submitted  that  MTNL  tariff  plans  are  affordable  &  cater  to  the  need  of  subscribers belonging to various strata of the society.

(c) & (d) TRAI has prescribed the standards for metering and billing through the quality of Service (Code of Practice for Metering and Billing Accuracy) Regulations, 2006  dated  21 st March  2006.    These  regulations  contain  a  Code  of  Practice  for Metering and Billing Accuracy, which every service provider has to comply with.  This code provides that the recorded duration of call  shall  be  within  +/-  1  second.    The regulations  provide  for  Audit  of  the  Metering  and  Billing  system  of  the  service providers by the service provider every year through any one of the auditor from the panel notified by TRAI, submission of audit reports thereon to TRAI by 31 st July and Action  Taken  Report  by  15 th November  every  year.    One  of  the  items  for  audit  is checking the accuracy of  metering i.e. duration of the call. The call starts from the time of answering by the called party and ends with release of the call by either party. As  per  the    audit  reports  for  the  year  2014-15,  received  by  TRAI,  the  metering  is within the specified limit.  TRAI has also checked the metering of some of the service providers  through  its  officers  and  it  was  observed  that  the  metering  is  within  the accuracy limit as per the Code of Practice for metering & billing accuracy.

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