An 88-year-old woman in Palakkad got a rude shock when she discovered that her mobile phone operator had not only subscribed her to services she had not requested but was charging her Rs 500 every month.
She is not alone. Some two crore subscribers have similar grouse, and have complained to the telecom regulator.
An audit by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India through independent agencies found that 60 lakh Airtel subscribers have complained in the past 15 months that value-added services had been activated without their consent. As many as 40 lakh Idea Cellular subscribers network were unhappy with the way value-added services had been being forced on them. Value-added services (VAS) include caller ring-back tones, music downloads for which operators collect a monthly fee.
On July 4, 2011, TRAI had asked mobile companies not to activate VAS without getting the consent of the subscribers. The operators were supposed to obtain confirmation through an SMS, e-mail, a fax or in writing within 24 hours of activation of the VAS.
Further, every service-provider had to inform the consumer through SMS at least three days before the date of renewal of a subscribed value-added service. If there is insufficient balance in the pre-paid account of a consumer at the time of renewal of subscription to a value-added service, the service provider is to send a request, through an SMS.
Unhappy, the operators went to court against the TRAI order on grounds that as SMSes are generated in English, a majority of subscribers find it difficult to give consent. However, the court dismissed the operators’ plea and asked them to comply with the orders by February 3. But till now only a couple of operators have complied with the TRAI regulation.
“We have partially complied with the TRAI order. Operators are working towards implementing the full system as early as possible,” said Rajan Mathews, Director-General, Cellular Operators Association of India.