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Consumers dismayed by SC ruling on call drop penalty
Consumer Voice, one of the consumer groups that participated in the call drop compensation consultation process, said the decision was not in the interest of consumers.
Consumers were left disappointed with the Supreme Court's Wednesday order to strike down penalties levied by the telecom regulator on telcos for call drops, with some saying that the ruling sends out a wrong signal at a time quality of calling services continued to be poor.
Consumer Voice, one of the consumer groups that participated in the call drop compensation consultation process, said the decision was not in the interest of consumers.
"We're extremely disappointed," said Hemant Upadhyay, telecom and IT advisor at Consumer Voice. "Telcos are not investing in networks and now they will get a free hand. Situation on call drops is worsening on a daily basis."
He added that the SC decision would also set a "wrong precedent" as telcos like Telenor or Aircel who were on their own compensating customers for call drops with minutes and may now stop this service.
Earlier Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court struck down a regulation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), making it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops, holding it as "arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent".
"We have held the impugned regulation to be ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent," a bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said.
The apex court passed the judgment on the appeals filed by COAI, a body of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance, challenging the Delhi High Court order which had upheld the TRAI's decision making it mandatory for them to compensate subscribers for call drops from this January.
The Delhi High Court had early this year upheld the October 16, 2015 decision of TRAI, making it mandatory for cellular operators to pay consumers one rupee per call drop experienced on their networks, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day.
"100 crore subscribers left in the lurch and penalised for inefficiency of telco's in call drop issue," said Rao Tvara, on his handle on Twitter, one of the several who took to the social media platform to express their views.
http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/consumers-dismayed-by-sc-ruling-on-call-drop-penalty/52220333
Consumer Voice, one of the consumer groups that participated in the call drop compensation consultation process, said the decision was not in the interest of consumers.
Consumers were left disappointed with the Supreme Court's Wednesday order to strike down penalties levied by the telecom regulator on telcos for call drops, with some saying that the ruling sends out a wrong signal at a time quality of calling services continued to be poor.
Consumer Voice, one of the consumer groups that participated in the call drop compensation consultation process, said the decision was not in the interest of consumers.
"We're extremely disappointed," said Hemant Upadhyay, telecom and IT advisor at Consumer Voice. "Telcos are not investing in networks and now they will get a free hand. Situation on call drops is worsening on a daily basis."
He added that the SC decision would also set a "wrong precedent" as telcos like Telenor or Aircel who were on their own compensating customers for call drops with minutes and may now stop this service.
Earlier Wednesday morning, the Supreme Court struck down a regulation by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), making it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops, holding it as "arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent".
"We have held the impugned regulation to be ultra vires, arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent," a bench comprising Justices Kurian Joseph and R F Nariman said.
The apex court passed the judgment on the appeals filed by COAI, a body of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India and 21 telecom operators, including Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Reliance, challenging the Delhi High Court order which had upheld the TRAI's decision making it mandatory for them to compensate subscribers for call drops from this January.
The Delhi High Court had early this year upheld the October 16, 2015 decision of TRAI, making it mandatory for cellular operators to pay consumers one rupee per call drop experienced on their networks, subject to a cap of Rs 3 a day.
"100 crore subscribers left in the lurch and penalised for inefficiency of telco's in call drop issue," said Rao Tvara, on his handle on Twitter, one of the several who took to the social media platform to express their views.
http://telecom.economictimes.indiatimes.com/news/consumers-dismayed-by-sc-ruling-on-call-drop-penalty/52220333
