[Reader-list] Is your cell operator fleecing you?

[zamrooda]

 Is your cell operator fleecing you?  

  G. Rambabu 

NEW DELHI, March 10 

HAVE you ever wondered at the inverse relationship between the falling 
cellular tariffs and your monthly bill? 

 No, it has nothing to do with the airtime that your mobile number clocks. 
Check out your mobile bills (starting with the first) and the answer is there 
in black and white. 

 Cellular operators, especially in the high growth metros and cities, have 
devised an ingenious way of compensating their loss due to the falling tariff 
rates by extracting that much more from the unsuspecting subscriber. 

 With a view to putting an end to this clandestine fleecing of the 
unsuspecting subscriber, a consumer organisation, Telecom Watchdog, has filed 
a petition with the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), 
asking the cellular operators to refund all the ``overcharged amounts'' to 
the subscribers and also to push the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India 
(TRAI) and the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to enforce the Telecom 
Tariff Order (TTO) and the licence agreement. 

 The cellular operators, when contacted for their reaction, declined to 
comment stating that they were yet to go through the petition filed against 
them. 

 The petition notes that among the charges that are being illegally collected 
by the cellular operators are the SIM card or activation charges, detailed 
bill charges, WPC charges and charges for various supplementary services. 
None of these is allowed as per the TTO 1999 and the licence agreement. 

 What is more, the ceiling fixed by the authority for installation charges 
and security deposits have more often than not been violated. 

 The average charges levied by the cellular operators for SIM card or 
activation are in the range of Rs 1,260 and installation charges about Rs 
2,200. While the TTO/licence agreement states that no charges have to be 
collected for SIM Card, a ceiling of Rs 1,200 has been fixed for 
``installation charges''. 

 The average security deposit collected by the cellular operators is about Rs 
13,000, while the authority has put a ceiling of Rs 3,000. 

 What is more, the operators collect up to Rs 300 per month per service as 
supplementary charges and Rs 200 per annum as WP charges - both in violation 
of the tariff order. 

 Meanwhile, according to industry analysts, a couple of facts that have not 
been highlighted in the petition are also worth noting here. While the 
cellular operators are clearly going overboard in their effort to woo the 
customer with value-added freebies to their subscribers, they often tend to 
ignore the basic services that they are mandated to provide. 

 The licence agreements, for example, state that they have to meet the 
minimum standards of service, failing which their licences can be terminated 
by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT). 

 These include emergency call services, call success rate of 99 per cent, 
timing to release calls of two seconds, group 3 fax, conference call, free 
phone, reverse charging, scratch pad memory, etc. 

 Add to it the fact that the operators have to, as per their licence 
agreement, publish a directory of all their subscribers. 

 Then again, as per their licence agreements, the operators are not expected 
to charge for the caller line identification (CLI) and itemised billing 
charges. Practically no one adheres to this rule.