‘ Status of Dispute Settlement Mechanism in the Telecom, Broadcasting and Cable Sectors in India’ Satya Pal C.G.M.T. Gujarat Circle Presentation by 24th March-2007 Panel Discussion

Gujarat Telecom Circle Honorable Judge Supreme Court of India

3 Hon’ble Mr. Justice Arun Kumar Chair Person Mr. Vinod Vaish, Member, Former Secretary to the Govt of India. BSNL Gujarat Telecom Circle Welcome TDSAT Members

4 BSNL Gujarat Mr.Nripen Mishra, Honorable Chairman TRAI. Mr. G.S.Grover, Member (services) Telecom. Commission Mr. A.K. Sinha, Honorable CMD BSNL.

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6 BSNL Organization BSNL Units Corporate Office Telecom Circles – (Ninteen Telecom Circles+ Two metro circles) IT Circle NCES Circle QA Circle T&D Circle Telecom Store Circle Project Circle – (Four) Maintenance Circle –(Four) Training Circles – (Three) Telecom Factory

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8 Consumer Grievances 1. Services Fault repairing New Provision 2.Billing 3. Behaviour

9 Toll Free Service. Same Number though-out SDCA. Any complaint pertaining to fault repair. IVRS Based 24 Hrs Service. Language option available as local language Hindi and English. Records are available and could be centrally monitored. (Dotsoft based). Faults pending for long-duration come to notice immediately. More than 90% complaints are handled on this service, to the satisfaction of the customers 198 Service:

10 Toll free Number. Based at Ahmedabad Circle Office. Available from anywhere in Gujarat State. Operator Controlled. Persuasion with SSAs (Districts) for the grievance settlements. Grievance Settlements are recorded. Second stage of grievance handling Services:

11 Call Centers Toll Free Service 24 Hour Service All Basic Phones inquiries Internet Inquiries Broadband Inquiries (Gujarat BSNL-Mobiles) Toll Free Service 24 Hour Service All Mobile Service inquiries, & GPRS Setting, Activation etc.

12 Telephonic Calls: To, Junior Telecom Officer, Sub-divisional Engineer, Divisional Engineer, Dy. Gen. Manager /Area Manager General Manager. And Dy Gen. Manager (Operation) at Circle Office as Circle PG Nodal Officer. PGM (Operation) CGM Telephone Numbers are printed in Telephone Directory, Displayed at Various Customer Service Centers and Web-sites also.

13 Control Room Opened at the time of Natural Calamities or accidents.

14 Written Complaints Letters / Fax / s. Received at Public Grievance cells and at various levels of officers, and replied to the complainants after settlements.

15 Personal Visits Customer Service Centers Available at Taluka level. Multiple Nos. of CSCs available at cities. Single Window Concept. Sub Divisional Engineer is In-charge. Between 15:00 Hrs to 16:00 Hrs: Declared as visiting hrs for all the officers of the rank of SDE, DE, DGM, GM, PGM, CGM.

16 Telephone Adalats All the individual Cases Frequency: Once in Two Months in Each Districts (SSA Level) Once in three Months in State Level (Circle Level). Composition: (Distt. Level): - PGM / GM as Chairman. - IFA and DGM of SSA. - GM / DGM of Circle Office. Composition: (Circle Level): - CGMT, - PGM (O) - GM Finance Powers: Full Power to decide and settle the case. YearTA HeldCases RecdCases Settled /4/06 to 31/12/

17 Once in three Months at each districts. General Problems of Group of Customers. Seeking suggestion for Service Improvement. Open House Sessions YearOpen House session held up to Jan-0747

18 Telephone Advisory committee (TAC) Eminent personalities selected by the communication ministry as its members Act as co-coordinator between BSNL and public. Come up with various user friendly suggestions Formal meeting schedule once in 6 months. TAC PeriodTAC Meetings held 1/7/2002 to 31/7/ /10/2004 to 30/9/ New TAC is formed with effect from

19 All district heads are in touch with MPs for suggestions. CGM also meets with MPs to get their view points. MPs also give complaints telephonically and in writing. MP’s Meeting

20 ARBITRATION In case the disputes are not settled then the arbitrators are appointed by the competent authority under the provision of the “Arbitration Act”. Appeal to the decision of the arbitrator is heard by the Hon’ble High court.

21 Details of numbers of VIP Cases handled up to

22 Historically, it was the civil courts and High courts who used to provide remedies to the consumers. On realization that remedies through civil courts and high courts are becoming time-consuming and expensive. Parliament came out with the concept of “Consumer Forums.” Individual consumers get relief for their individual grievances through consumer forums. They would be informal, easy to approach, faster and inexpensive. Consumer Forums

23 Consumer forums are available at District level State level National level

24 Installation of CDMA BTSs to cover all the areas of Gujarat(290 BTSs installed) Installation and improvement of GSM BTSs network all over Gujarat.(1552 BTSs installed) Launching customer friendly, easy to understand schemes for Gujarat LKLB is the latest one. Continuous maintenance and up gradation of existing infrastructure like outdoor plants maintenance, switching audit etc. Measures taken by BSNL Gujarat Telecom Circle to increase consumer satisfaction.

25 CDR based billing(IOBAS) for all POIs (to avoid any billing dispute with operator) Single window concepts in various customer service centers to cut down the delay due to procedures. The timing of customer service centers has been modified. CSC operates from 8 A.M. to 8 P.M. Telephone billing and accounting has been fully computerized. After initiating the various measures, BSNL commands 100% reliability in its telephone billing to the customers.

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