Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman JS Sarma’s previous experience as a member of Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) and secretary, Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has given him a deep understanding of the sector, he tells Manoj Gairola. Excerpts from an interview:
On need to improve service quality
I agree with you that quality of services (QOS) is an issue. Quality of calls should be good. A customer should get a proper bill. TRAI conducts QOS surveys regularly. We are planning to publicise performance of operators in the newspapers comparing real performance with the expected performance.
This will certainly have an impact and in the competitive environment, the operators will try to improve. We are exploring this idea.
On operators’ reaction to the move
Nothing has been finalised. Whatever we do will be in close dialogue with the industry. We want operators themselves to perform better. We will see how we can facilitate their efforts. We want the industry to grow but in a regulated manner.
On complaint redressal
What will have to develop is a proper complaint redressal system. Whenever there are active consumer groups, we plan to have joint meetings between consumers and operators. In June we are going to Chennai. We will try to organise active consumer groups where they are not present.
On complaint redressal
What will have to develop is a proper complaint redressal system. Whenever there are active consumer groups, we plan to have joint meetings between consumers and operators. In June we are going to Chennai. We will try to organise active consumer groups where they are not present.
On the National ‘Do Not Call’ (NDNC) directory
There are about 390 million mobile subscribers, but only 8-10 per cent of them are registered with the NDNC. The effectiveness is only 60-65 per cent.
Improving efficiency of NDNC
We are contemplating to convert it into National Do Call (NDC) directory. This means that a mobile telephone subscriber will get marketing calls only if he is registered with the (NDC) directory. This is still only an idea.