New Delhi: As mobile users continue to grapple with call drops, telecom regulator Trai today said current norms are “inefficient” to provide any relief to consumers and it will finalise in two weeks its “position” in the wake of Supreme Court quashing a penalty provision.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had put in place a new set of rules mandating telecom operators to pay Re 1 for each dropped call, subject to maximum Rs 3 per day, but this provision was quashed by the Supreme Court after telecom operators appealed against the regulatory diktat.
“We are reviewing the situation internally as to what should be the way forward. May be in couple of weeks we should be able to come out with the position as to what can be done,” Trai Chairman R S Sharma told PTI in an interview.
Calling current norms inefficient in providing relief to telecom consumers, he said: “Trai had tried by way of notionally compensating the consumers in cases of call drops. As you know, the Regulation was challenged by TSPs (telecom service providers) before the Hon’ble High Court of Delhi where the Regulation was upheld.
“However, we lost out in the Hon’ble Supreme Court. I think we have to find some solution to this situation. I don’t have any solution at this moment.”
Unlike other sectors, he said, an average grievance of telecom consumers has certain peculiarities as the consumer base for mobile services in India is very large and the monetary value in most of the grievances is relatively small, around Rs 10-20.
“Hence an average consumer is not able to approach courts because the value is very low and even filing an affidavit will be more than the value of the complaint,” Sharma said.
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