Over 10 lakh complaints till September regarding VAS: TRAI

Over 10 lakh complaints were reported this year till September against telecom operators for activating value added services (VAS) without consent of consumers, sectoral regulator TRAI said today.
A total of 10,37,596 complaints reporting VAS activation without consent were received, according to Trai data from January 1 to September 30, 2014.
Maximum number of complaints were reported in August this year at 1,31,048 while the least were in January at 84,583 complaints, Trai said.
The regulator did not share the names of operators against whom the complaints have been received.
Total number of VAS activations during the nine-month period stood at 56.88 crore whereas deactivation of VAS services stood at 9.35 crore.

Trai said it has taken several measures to protect the interest of consumers from time to time to prohibit activation of value added services without the explicit consent of consumers.

The regulator has also issued directions which prohibit activation of value added services without the explicit consent of the consumers and also prescribed the manner in which the explicit consent is to be obtained.
It has also made it simpler for the customers to deactivate VAS through a common toll-free number (155223) accessible through SMS or call across all operators.
"If any value added service is activated without the consent of a consumer, he may request the service provider for deactivation of such service on toll free number 155223," the regulator added.