It was a big long drawn fight against Vodafone Essar India. I have documented this here, here and here. I want to fight for the next level of transparency in the sector because information is not flowing in freely and it is a big hassle to know about the status of the complaints.
I have already documented that each operator needs to file a compliance report with TRAI every quarter including the action taken on the same. I had to push the company to act based on the threats sent as I insisted that they be made public using RTI. It was a “threat” alone which did the trick.
Further, the nodal officer and the appellate authority system doesn’t seem to be working because they are company officials. Even though it is mandated that all complaints be addressed in a time bound manner, it doesn’t happen so. What is the way out?
Department of Telecom is going through it’s own hassles with CBI raids in connection with the huge telecom scam related to auction of spectrum. I don’t foresee anything coming out of it (nor it’s worth reporting here) because it is just political arm twisting. Those officials are useless anyway; in that case, DoT is out of question.
That only leaves us with the option of TRAI and the idea that it needs to be more proactive in enforcing it’s own regulations. This calls for a concerted action against the errant officials because the companies are focused only on customer acquisition and not customer retention. Mobile number portability MIGHT change the service scenario a bit but I am being cynical about it because the exit and the entry barriers would be unfair to customers; unless the ensuing events prove me wrong. The charges for plan migration have yet not been defined; we as customers should demand a “pro-customer” outlook and not whims and fancies of fat cats dictating terms to both Government and Media.
On a happy note, the network coverage in my premises has vastly improved in all areas of building making it a hassle free experience. It took time and effort but it was worth it.
In the process, I learnt about the bad corporate ways too. And recounted it all here 
Update (27/10/2009):
I got a call from the Vodafone Network people asking me to send across a mail of “appreciation” for the “good work” that they have done!!
I countered that by asking them to send across the details of their CEO so that I could cc to them as well! Strange kind of assholes indeed!
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