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Our Bureau

Directs cell cos to restore service within 24 hours

New Delhi April 19 The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Thursday came to the rescue of thousands of harried mobile consumers who had been disconnected by their cellular operators despite submitting proper identification papers.

The telecom regulator directed all the cellular operators to speed up the verification process and restore the connection of such subscribers within 24 hours.

The TRAI has also directed them to ensure that all the re-activated subscribers get all their privileges and facilities like validity period, balance amount due to them, as per their earlier tariff plans.

Mobile operators had disconnected millions of cellular users after they failed to meet the March 31 deadline set by the Government to verify the identity of 160 million mobile users. While the verification for about 95 per cent of the total user base was completed, operators disconnected about eight million subscribers to escape DoT-set fine of Rs 1,000 per unverified subscriber.

However, a number of mobile users who had submitted their identification papers were also disconnected in the process. "It has come to the notice of TRAI that as a result of the drive initiated by the service providers to carryout the verification process a substantial number of connections have been deactivated. TRAI has also received a number of complaints from subscribers regarding deactivation of their connection even after submission of all the required documents," said a TRAI press release.

Earlier TRAI officials had told Business Line that they had received complaints from consumer groups like Telecom Watchdog.

More Stories on : Telecommunications | Regulatory Bodies & Rulings | Consumerism

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