Telecom Ombudsman Will Resolve Grievances; BSNL Launches Data Packs For IPL!

 

An Ombudsman is an official representative of a company or Govt. Dept., whose sole task is to listen to customer grievances, and resolve them in a timely manner.

Banks, Insurance, Airline and other major customer-facing industries always had an Ombudsman, but not telecom sector.

But now, things will change. Telecom sector will finally get an Ombudsman of its own!

Meanwhile, BSNL has launched some special data packs, targeted for IPL fans.

The Telecom Ombudsman Is Coming!

The new Ombudsman for telecom sector will be formed under Telecom Regulatory Authority of India or TRAI and will have direct reporting to the Telecom Secretary.

Yesterday, we had reported that in the National Telecom Policy draft for 2018, a better customer satisfaction mechanism has been proposed.

Today, the creation of Ombudsman has been approved.

Telecom industry collectively receives more than 1 crore complaints regarding data plans, services etc, and it was the right time for a dedicated Ombudsman.

Telecom secretary Aruna Sundararajan said,

“We are receiving as many as 10 million complaints and grievances every quarter. The telecom commission has now taken a decision to take up this issue,”

How Will The Process Of Complaints Work?

There shall be a three-tier mechanism to solve any issue pertaining to telecom services.

In the first tier, the consumer can directly contact the concerned telecom operator, which is anyways happening right now.

In the second tier, the consumer can contact an appellate authority, if the resolution is not satisfactory. This special appellate authority will be set up within the company itself.

In the third tier, the consumer can approach ombudsman if the resolution is still not satisfactory.

Soon, the ombudsman will be given more authority and power to resolve the customer’s query.

An unnamed TRAI official said,

“Quality of services are taking centre-stage and the new body will tackle the issues related to consumer complaints more effectively,”

Interestingly, in the past, TRAI had attempted to bring along discipline among telecom operators, vis-a-vis customer service and quality of service. For instance, a heavy penalty for call drops.

However, Supreme Court had quashed that order in the past.

Will telecom operators support the formation of an ombudsman or they will once again approach the apex court?

Only time will tell!

BSNL’s New IPL Centric Data Plans!

Meanwhile, state-run carrier BSNL has launched some interesting plans.

One of them is Rs 248 data pack for IPL fans! Users can get 153 GB of data for 51 days of IPL matches. This means BSNL users can get 1 GB for just Rs 1.6.

Too bad it isn’t 4G data, but still, a very tempting offer.

Other plans include Rs 99 and Rs 319 packs for unlimited calling, which seems to have been designed to challenging Jio. Rs 99 pack will give users unlimited voice calling for 26 days, while Rs 319 plan will give users unlimited calling for 90 days.

These two plans don’t have data included and exclude Mumbai and Delhi. Free caller tune can be availed as well.

And, Rs 118 plan has also been launched, with a validity of 28 days.

This new plan will give 1 GB of data per day, and unlimited voice calling, except Mumbai and Delhi.

In case you opted for the plans and didn’t get the service as promised, then you can always contact the Ombudsman!