TDSAT
issues notice to Trai
The Telecom Dispute Settlement and
Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Wednesday issued
notices to regulator Trai
and mobile operators Bharti Airtel,
Vodafone Essar and Idea over the
recent hike in tariff. During the hearing on a
petition filed by NGO Telecom Users Group of
the petition, the NGO has challenged the
recent price hike by Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and Idea,
requesting the tribunal to put the hike in tariff
on hold. It also sought a direction to Trai to look
into the hike.
The NGO also requested for a direction to
the operat-ors to put on record that they would
refund the exc-ess
amount back to custo-mers if they loose this case.
The operators had raised
charges for local calls by 20 per cent and
international calls by 20-32 per cent in August. The
petitioner said the companies were increasing the
prices just to earn huge profit. Companies
like Bharti Airtel had posted an annual profit of more than 90 per
cent, the NGO said.
It said that the operators, which are
virtually controlling around 64 per cent of the market, are
already earning a lot of profit and there was no
urgency to increase the rate in such a manner.
Trai has opposed the NGO’s contention saying
there was nothing unusual in this hike as it was
under forbearance policy.
TDSAT
issues notices on tariff hike
The Telecom Dispute Settlement and
Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) today issued notices to the
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) and mobile operators Bharti
Airtel, Vodafone
Essar and Idea over recent
tariff increases.
The TDSAT chairman directed Trai and the three operators to file their replies within a
week.
The notices were issued on a petition
filed by the Telecom Users Group of
challenging the recent price hike by the three
service providers and requesting the tribunal to
put the tariff hike on hold. It also sought
a direction to Trai for looking into the hike.
The NGO also requested TDSAT to direct
the operators to put on record that they would refund
the excess amount to their customers if they
lost the case.
The operators had raised charges for
local calls by 20% and international calls by 20 to 32% in
August.
The petitioner said the companies were
raising tariffs just to earn huge profits. It added that the
operators, which virtually control 64% of the
market, already earn high profits so there was no
urgency to increase tariffs. "It was not
just a 20 paisa hike in the tariff. It was virtually a 20%
increase and with it the telcos
would earn Rs 8,600 crore
extra every year," the NGO's cousel
Meenakshi Arora said.
Business Standard
TDSAT
issues notices to TRAI, three operators on tariff hike
The Telecom Dispute Settlement and
Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) on Wednesday issued
notices to regulator TRAI and mobile operators Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Essar and Idea over the
recent hike in tariff.
During the hearing on a petition filed by
NGO Telecom Users Group of
directed TRAI and the three operators to file
their reply within a week.
In the petition, the NGO has challenged
the recent price hike by the Vodafone, Bharti Airtel and
Idea, requesting the
tribunal to put the hike in tariff on hold. It also sought a direction to TRAI to
look into the hike.
The NGO, during the proceedings,
requested for a direction to the three operators to put on
record that they would refund the excess amount
back to their customers if they loose this
case.
The operators had raised charges for
local calls by 20 per cent and international calls by 20-32
per cent in August.
The petitioner said the companies were
increasing the prices just to earn huge profit.
Companies like Bharti
Airtel had posted an annual profit of more than 90
per cent, the NGO
said.
It said that the operators, which are
virtually controlling around 64 per cent of the market, are
already earning a lot of profit and there was no
urgency to increase the rate in such a manner.
"Even without this hike, there was
substantial profit in this sector... Companies were earning
around Rs 7,200 crore per month," it said.
"It was not just a 20 paisa hike in
the tariff. It was virtually a 20 per cent increase and by it the
telcos would earn Rs
8,600 crore extra every year." NGO's cousel Meenakshi Arora said.
The Economic Times
BSNL
announcement
Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited has announced that basic phone (bfone) i.e., landline
customers who do not wish to receive telemarketing
calls can register their request for
including their number in the “Do Not Call
Register” available with the BSNL.
A release from the BSNL said that under
the service, customers could bar the unsolicited
commercial calls/SMS by registering under the head
“Customer Care Portal” in the website
www.tamilnadu.bsnl.co.in.
To access this service, customers had to
register by entering their telephone number and email
ID. The system would mail the unique
password allotted to the customers to their given email
address.
By using the user ID and password, the
customers could open the service. To activate the
service the subscribers should click “Add my
Phone in Do Not Call ME” and then enter the
phone details under the head “Add Phone
Account”. Customers could also register via phone
by dialling the
Call Centre’s Toll Free Number 1500.
The facility could be availed by mobile
customers by sending an SMS. The customers could
send an SMS “DNC ACT” (for adding the mobile
number in the DNC registry) or “DNC
DEACT” (for removing the mobile number
from the DNC registry) to 53733 or 3733.
Bill payment
The BSNL has announced that the cash
collection counters accepting telephone/mobile bills at
Central Telegraph Office,
function up to
The Hindu