When mobile telephony was first introduced, the call charges and the cost of the instrument were both so high that only a small percentage of the population could actually afford it. Today, the fall in the price of the instrument as well as call charges have resulted in a phenomenal growth of mobile telephony in the country.

As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) statistics, there were over 33 million pre-paid subscribers and nearly 11.4 million post-paid subscribers in the country by the end of September 2005. Unfortunately, along with the rise in the number of mobile subscribers, there is an increase in the level of consumer dissatisfaction with the services. One of the major problems pertain to network congestion and poor connectivity.

In its report on the Quality of Service Parameters related to Congestion on Point of Interconnection, released in January 2006, the TRAI commented that in a number of big and small cities, the level of congestion between the networks of different operators was far more than the prescribed benchmark of less than 0.5 per cent and the number of such places were increasing. This was mainly due to delay in augmentation of inter network junctions, TRAI observed.

But then, network congestion is not the only problem. Consumer complaints pertain to misleading advertisements, change of subscribers’ tariff plans without prior consent, incorrect billing, unclear terms and conditions, delay in providing roaming facilities and in shifting the subscriber from pre-paid to post-paid regime. There are also complaints of harassment by recovery agents. Another area of consumer discontent is the unsolicited calls by tele-marketing companies.

It is no wonder that in the last one year, the largest percentage (20 per cent) of complaints received by the toll-free National Consumer Helpline pertained to telecom (mostly mobile) services. Commented the NCH in its annual report: “Despite the in-house redressal systems of various companies, it has been felt that a sizeable number of consumer complaints still remain unresolved”.

What is needed is not just better quality of service, but also a better and a more transparent system of consumer complaint redress. There is, in fact, an urgent need for an ombudsman in the telecom sector. Service providers have a responsibility to provide an effective system of consumer complaint redress and consumers will now have to demand this of them.

(www.telegraphindia.com)