Panel asks DoT, Trai to work with stakeholders

Amid the debate on sustainability of the tariff war by telecom companies to woo customers, a Parliamentary Panel suggested that the Department of Telecom and Trai should work with all stakeholders to arrive at a win-win situation.

“The Department of Telecom (DoT) and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) should work in tandem with the telecom service providers, consumers and industry as a whole as the issue relating to pricing and tariff structure is addressed in such a way that all stakeholders have win-win situation and everyone reaps the benefit of telecom revolutions,” said the Standing Committee on Information Technology in its latest report.

Apart from protecting the interest of the consumers, the regulator has to provide a fair and transparent ecosystem to encourage healthy competition and promote a level-playing field for all service providers, the panel headed by BJP MP Anurag Thakur said.

Free services may benefit consumers, but fall in revenue of the telecom firms may have serious impact not only for telecom industries but also on the financial sector as a whole, the committee said.
The report suggested that telecom operators should set up robust consumer grievance redressal mechanisms, besides organising workshops and customer satisfaction surveys in every circle to effectively address mobile users complaints.

The panel also recommended that DoT and Trai should ensure accuracy of metering and billing by the telecom service providers. Besides, the committee said that service providers should reveal relevant information regarding billing method to subscribers at the time of giving mobile connection itself.

Earlier, the Telecom Commission, an inter-ministerial panel headed by former telecom secretary J S Deepak, had expressed concerns over promotional offers and said it would hit the financial health of the sector.

The panel raised the concerns after new telecom firm Reliance Jio announced its promotional offer, including free voice calls and data to its customers. Other telecom companies  also raised concerns over Jio’s promotional offer saying it would hit their financials.