An ombudsman for mobile phone users

NEW DELHI: In a major initiative to address consumer grievances, all telecom service providers on Monday jointly announced the setting up of an ombudsman. The first office for the Telecom Sector Ombudsman (TSO) will be set up in New Delhi and will look into consumer grievances across the country. Last month, ET had reported that telecom companies would soon annouce setting up of an ombudsman.

With this, the telecom sector joins other consumer-driven sectors such as power, banking and insurance, in having an ombudsman. More importantly, the move comes even as the Department of Telecom (DoT) has repeatedly turned down telecom regulator Trai’s proposal for an ombudsman.

An ombudsman is an independent body to which consumers can take their complaints. It has the powers to mediate settlements between consumers and their service providers and can act as a one-stop solution to their woes as its recommendations are binding on all players. If the complainant subscriber is not satisfied, he has the option to approach another forum.

In a joint statement, the Cellular Operators Association of Indian (COAI) and the Association of Unified Service Providers of India (AUSPI), the industry bodies representing GSM and CDMA operators, respectively, said: “The industry has unanimously requested Justice D P Wadhwa, a retired Supreme Court Judge and former chairman of the National Consumer Commission and former chairman of the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal to head the office of the TSO.’’

COAI and AUSPI also said that the TSO is a good beginning for the introduction of an independent, cost effective and effective dispute settlement body. According to COAI director-general TV Ramachandran, the ombudsman scheme would be run as a 100% voluntary and self-regulatory industry initiative.

AUSPI secretary general S C Khanna said that under the proposed scheme, the TSO could be contacted directly by the subscriber through written communications, email, phone, fax, etc. He said in order to make it consumer friendly, it has been decided that no third parties would represent the case.

The TSO would function as a private arbitrator and settlement authority and will not be a legal forum with advocates representing the parties. He added that the TSO would look into each subscriber complaint and make his recommendations within a short timeframe.