The Hindu : Business : Spell out tariff plans, phone companies told

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Business

Business

Spell out tariff plans, phone companies told

Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI: In a fresh missive to phone service providing companies, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked them to ensure transparency in their tariff plans and improve consumer interface by educating the retailers.

The need to improve on both the fronts has become acute because most of the fresh subscribers are being enrolled from non-urban areas. The socio economic standing of this population calls for further strengthening of consumer protection measures.

Additional services

The TRAI communication has also asked phone companies to provide printed material in English and vernacular languages at the time of enrolling customers. The material must carry a full and complete tariff information sheet, details of all additional services such as roaming and premium rate services, any exceptions in ``unambiguous terms'' and a list of consumer protection steps specified by the TRAI in the past.

While asking phone companies to carry consumer-friendly measures to the hinterland, the TRAI noted that in largely urban areas, phone companies are not giving adequate importance to consumer transparency issues despite several directives to this effect. ``Several underlying information relating to tariff/service are not being explicitly brought out during the process of offering, promoting and marketing the products. This has led to consumer dissatisfaction and the credibility of the service providers is being questioned,'' it said.

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