The Hindu Business Line : Telcos' billing systems to come under TRAI lens

TELECOM consumers' woes over billing may soon end. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India proposes to conduct an audit of billing systems deployed by various operators to check for discrepancies and flaws in the processes.

The move comes after a number of consumer groups complained of irregular and higher bills.

"A number of regulators around the world have conducted billing audits. We are planning to follow suit and ensure that operators are following global standards when it comes to billing since it is crucial in providing good quality of service," said a TRAI official.

According to the quality of service survey conducted by the regulator, problems related to billing were deteriorating for fixed line operators and only marginally improving for cellular service providers.

According to the TRAI survey, complaints per 100 bills issued by a cellular operator were almost 66 per cent when the benchmark was at less than 0.1 per cent.

When it comes to resolving complaints, 85 per cent of the complaints received were resolved within four weeks by an operator even though TRAI has specified that all complaints must be addressed within that time.

TRAI has also specified that all refunds arising out of erroneous billing must be made within four weeks.

However, operators have managed to make refunds to about 90 per cent of the complainants within the specified time.

In another initiative the regulator has developed a software with Tata Energy Research Institute that will enable users to chose a mobile tariff plan according to their usage.

With the help of the software, customers can get information about the various tariff plans even as operators announce new tariffs almost every week.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings

Article E-Mail :: Comment :: Syndication :: Printer Friendly Page

Stories in this Section
Vendors support CDMA players

Row over spectrum allocation — Cell operators' group walks out of TRAI open house

Telcos' billing systems to come under TRAI lens

Pvt telcos suspend threat to stop access deficit charge payments

Hardware institute to open 25 centres in eastern region

TCS Q2 net may dip 1 pc on IPO charges

Hexaware bags 4 clients for SOX practice

Oracle unveils new e-business suite

Jetking in talks to buy varsity

Telematics has wide applications: Maran