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N. Ramakrishnan

Chennai , March 19

TOUCHTEL, the fixed line telephone service from the Bharti group, is set to guarantee service levels to its subscribers. It will even pay a penalty if it slips on any guaranteed performance parameter if the fault lies with the company.

The performance guarantee, or service level agreement, will cover companies with Touchtel connections, PCOs and residential users, according to company officials.

In the service level agreement, Touchtel will mention issues like downtime (how long a telephone connection will be out of service in case of a fault), billing errors and in the case of the DSL service, speed of the Internet connection.

For instance, in case a telephone connection goes dead because the cable has been inadvertently cut by some other agency, Touchtel will not be at fault for the connection going dead but will try to ensure that the line is restored as quickly as possible, according to officials.

Touchtel has over six lakh subscribers in Delhi, Haryana, Madhya Pradesh, Karnataka and Tamil Nadu. Some 70-80 per cent of the subscribers are large companies, small and medium enterprises and PCOs, with residential connections accounting for the rest.

According to Bharti group officials, Touchtel plans to expand its service to more areas. It is looking to launch in Andhra Pradesh and Kerala.

The service may not be provided across the States, but in key cities, like Hyderabad, where the business segment is viewed as a potential area that it can tap.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Customer Relationship Management

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