The government has informed the parliament that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has received the highest number of complaints against Bharti Airtel followed by Vodafone Idea (Vi) and Reliance Jio.
TRAI had received 16,111 service-related complaints against Airtel in 2021, followed by 14,487 against Vi and 7,341 against Reliance Jio.
Of the 14,487 complaints against Vi, 9,186 were against Idea and 5,301 against Vodafone. The data showed that TRAI received 732 complaints against Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and 2,913 against Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL).
The complaints received by TRAI are forwarded to concerned service providers for appropriate action. TRAI has mandated all telecom service providers (TSPs) to establish a two-tier complaint/grievance redressal mechanism for handling consumer complaints.
Under the complaint redressal mechanism, a consumer can lodge service-related complaints at the complaint centre of their TSPs. In case a complaint is not redressed satisfactorily by the service provider at the complaint centre, an appeal can be registered with the appellate authority of the TSPs.
Meanwhile, the parliament was also informed that approximately 97.25 terabytes (TB) per month of data is being consumed at 6,071 railway stations that have free Wi-Fi services. The Wi-Fi service is available to the general public free of cost for the first half-an-hour of any day and on chargeable basis subsequently.
The government also noted that funds amounting to Rs 272.2 million have been sanctioned by Department of Telecommunications (DoT) under the Universal Service Obligation Fund (USOF) for provision of Wi-Fi services at 193 railway stations in rural areas. Wi-Fi services at 1,287 railway stations, mostly A1 and A category stations, are being provided by RailTel Corporation of India Limited.
