Trai fines telcos for not meeting quality norms

BHARTI AIRTEL has been fined to the tune of about `23 lakh, according to the source. FOR VODAFONE, penalties add up to about `9 lakh. Idea Cellular has to pay about `29 lakh in fines.

New Delhi, July 1: Keeping its vigil on service quality in the sector, Trai has imposed penalties on leading operators, including Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular, for failing to meet various Quality of Service benchmarks in the December quarter, according to a source.

Around `31 lakh fine has been imposed on Jio, the newest entrant in the telecom sector whose aggressive offerings have led to a bruising tariff war in the market.

The penalty on Reliance Jio for December quarter is on account of Traide fined service quality parameters including Point of Interconnect congestion, accessibility of call centres and customer care, and also those pertaining to termination or closure of service complied to within the stipulated seven days, according to the source.

The fine imposed relates to multiple circles or service areas in which the company operates.

An e-mail sent to Jio seeking their response on penalties remained unanswered.

Trai chairman R.S. Sharma had recently confirmed that “financial disincentive” has been levied on operators for December quarter 2017, but had declined to divulge details.

Trai has been maintaining that it does not wish to name specific operators or penalties slapped on them for not meeting the service quality criteria.

Accordingly, it has never published this information either on its website or through a statement.