Trai tweaks quality of service regulations

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today proposed penalty of Rs 100,000 per week for any delay in the submission of the audit and action taken reports by the service providers.

However, for false or incomplete information, financial disincentives not more than Rs 1,000,000 per action taken report will also be levied, according to the amendments by TRAI, today.

The audit and action taken reports from the service providers will have to be submitted to TRAI every year by July 21 and November 15.

TRAI has amended the framework for auditing the metering and billing system of service providers as in the Quality of Service (Code of Practice for Metering and Billing Accuracy) Regulations, 2006 in order to protect consumer interest.

With the amendment, service providers will have to get their metering and billing system audited every year for basic and cellular mobile telephone services, in every service area, through any one of the auditors from the panel notified by the body.

There will be an audit of call data records of one month of sample subscribers from the most popular plans, new plans, data plans and Special Tariff Vouchers in each quarter. This way, the audit will represent the entire year. In addition to this, there shall be a 'timely refund' of the overcharged amounts.

In all instances of overcharging during the audit, the affected customers shall be offered the refund of the overcharged amounts within two months. If a service provider fails to meet the target, it will be liable for financial disincentives equivalent to the overcharged amount. In addition to this, auditors will have to submit their monthly progress reports to TRAI detailing the refund of overcharged amounts to customers.

In November 2012, TRAI had issued a consultation paper seeking stakeholder comments on the proposals to introduce financial disincentives to deal with issues including delays in submission of audit and action taken reports; false or incomplete audit and action taken reports; delays in offering refund of overcharges to affected consumers; and proposals to improve the quality of audit. The amendment is based on the inputs from all the stakeholders.