TRAI moves to check arbitrary disconnection of SIMs
Telecom regulator TRAI has initiated debate on the
issue of operators arbitrarily disconnecting services of customers on
the grounds of ’non-usage of numbers’ or ‘inactive SIM connections’
According
to information provided by telecom operators to the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India, around 20 crore SIMs were inactive for over a
certain period of time and the total balance on that account stood at
Rs. 128.9 crore.
TRAI has said that telecom
subscribers at various forums have represented that their mobile
connections were being disconnected arbitrarily by telecom operators.
“Deactivation
of a SIM without prior intimation and on arbitrary grounds deprives the
subscriber of his mobile number which might have been an identity for
him for a long time,” said TRAI’s consultation paper on the issue.
As
a result, consumers suffer from a potential loss of activity in both
personal and professional set-ups causing an adverse impact on
livelihood.
“While some consumers complained against
the practice of deactivation of SIMs without prior intimation to them by
their TSPs (Telecom Service Providers) when they were travelling in
India or abroad, other subscribers lamented about disconnection of their
life-time prepaid connections within a very short period of non-usage,”
TRAI said.
Telecom operators in their meetings with
TRAI have said that they have to deactivate SIMs to efficiently manage
number series (mobile phone numbers) allocated to them by the Department
of Telecom.
TRAI said it has found that telecom
operators do not follow common criteria to disconnect inactive SIMs but
added that “to manage their numbering resources better, the service
providers have proposed to follow a procedure for deactivating mobile
connections which are not used for a long time.”
In July 2011, DoT started allocating number series to telecom operators on the basis of active users on their network.
“However,
while carrying out such deactivations, the customers should be informed
transparently and those customers who wish to retain their connections
even while not using them should have the option to do so on payment of a
connection retention fee,” it added.
TRAI cited that
its order on tariff plan with lifetime or unlimited validity “requires
any subscriber to recharge” his mobile phone account “with any specified
minimum amount within specified time periods” during validity of the
plan.
“...to keep the said tariff plan valid, such
specified time period or interval, shall, in no case, be less than six
months,” the regulator said.
TRAI has fixed December
21 as last date for comments on this consultation paper, and December 28
as last date for counter comments.
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