This gets interesting.
Having the useless information from the Public Information Officer, I explored ways and means to get the FULL information from TRAI.
It appears that there is a huge lobby to keep the definition of broadband as 256 kbps which can be “offered” at an attractive “price”. Anything over and above that is chargeable at a higher price. The companies incur a fixed price to extend the wire from the exchange to your premises. However, after that, we have no clue as to how a company, for example, Airtel justifies it’s monthly costs to service me as a customer. In the recent price fall, on what basis, the price was reduced? On what basis, the earlier price point was maintained?
The PIO has not specifically mentioned about the fair usage policy. Under no circumstances, does this fair usage policy apply, nor it is mandated, nor it is ‘legal’. I have no clue about whether TRAI is aware of such a thing but in any case, it needs a follow up and TRAI should be forced to stop the unfortunate usage.
In the long term, the license of these firms needs to be made public; how these private companies acquire them, how they charge and what are their revenue sources. Their accounts need to be audited and everything should be in the public domain.
I am only interested in a bare bones 2 Mbps connection and any other value added service maybe charged for. That is a legitimate right to make a profit. However, charging exorbitant rates for something as simple as a plain vanilla broadband access is unfair and the customer needs to be put in the loop.
I am reproducing the mail to the appellate authority in full. The best part is that I don’t have to pay the requisite fees and I am sure that the PIO would be put under the mat. TRAI should exert itself as an authority and not a hand maid of the various lobbies. Lets fight them!
November 23rd 2009
To,
Smt. Sadhana Dikshit,
Pr. Advisor (FA &IFA) & Appellate Authorit,
TRAI, Mahanagar Doorsanchar Bhawan,
Jawaharlal Nehru Marg,
Old Minto Road,
New Delhi-110 002.Sub: Misleading, incoherent and incomplete reply received from PIO, Mr. P.K. Dutta vide letter No. 1(229)/2009-RTI dated 18th November 2009.
Respected Madam,
With reference to the above mentioned subject, the reply received from PIO Mr. P.K. Dutta is INCOMPLETE, INCOHERENT,ABSOLUTELY MISLEADING and NOT TO MY SATISFACTION AT ALL.
1) The definition of Broadband mentioned as per the letter is and I quote verbatim, “minimum speed of Broadband has been kept at 256 kpbs (sic) as per definition adopted by International Telecommunications Union(ITU).
After accessing the website of ITU, the picture is entirely different.
It says and I quote verbatim,” Recommendation I.113 of the ITU Standardization Sector defines broadband as a “transmission capacity that is faster than primary rate Integrated Services Digital Network (ISDN) at 1.5 or 2.0 Megabits per second (Mbits)”.
(Accessed from http://www.itu.int/osg/spu/publications/birthofbroadband/faq.html and accessed on 22nd November 2009).
Hence this information is INCORRECT AND MISLEADING a customer.2)The question number “4, 5 and 6” in the letter to PIO dated 6th November have NOT been answered. I had specifically asked:
Does fair usage policy violate any of the provisions of TRAI?
If it does, what action can be taken against errant Internet Service Provider?
Has any Internet Service Provider been ever penalised for violating for introducing “fair usage policy?NO ANSWERS WERE GIVEN SPECIFICALLY TO THESE IMPORTANT QUESTIONS and it amounts to WITHOLDING THE INFORMATION.
Further, If the usage of the term “FAIR USAGE POLICY” is ‘illegal’. What action has TRAI taken to notify the various Internet Service Providers to avoid the usage of term and it’s implementation for ‘reducing the speeds’ to 50%’ of the availed plan. The following definition of Fair Usage Policy is taken from Airtel available as a pdf download from their website (www.airtel.in/applications/xm/Fair_Usage_Policy.pdf)“Under the policy we have defined fair usage levels for unlimited data transfer plans and
needless to mention, the usage levels set are very generous such that most customers will not
be affected by the Fair Usage Policy. On reaching the fair usage level, the plan speed would be rationalized by up to 50% for the restof the monthly billing cycle.”
IS TRAI AWARE OF SUCH A POLICY? WHAT ACTION HAS TRAI TAKEN TO AVOID THE USAGE OF THIS TERM?3)Question number 8 in letter dated 6th November 2009 was specific and has NOT been answered to MY SATISFACTION, namely,
Has TRAI suggested reducing the price for various plan combinations?If yes, what is the base price fixed for an unlimited Internet Connection by any Internet Service Provider? If no, is there any provision whereby TRAI can act on behalf of the customer to reduce the prices?I need to know whether TRAI speaks on behalf of the customers, whether TRAI asks the service providers about the break up of the various tariff plans as to under what head the various tariff plans are designed and on what basis the end customer is charged for availing the services of the various Internet Service Providers.
4)Question number 9 has NOT been answered at all namely, “ How has the tariff on unlimited broadband (1Mbps unlimited) being offered by Bharti Airtel fixed line been calculated?”
Please rush the information to me by speed/registered post at the following address listed below. In case the requisite information is not provided to me by the mandatory period, I have the option to escalate the matter to the second appellate authority namely CIC, New Delhi.
This content is published under the Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Unported license.
Related posts:
- TRAI: Filed for RTI application regarding Broadband Here is the text of the email, fax and the registered post sent to TRAI regarding various issues related to...
- Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Over the past few years, there has been a spurt of the telecom growth. Even...
- TRAI: Response to RTI application This was disappointing to say the least. It was expected from a regulator which is staffed by nincompoops. Let’s merit...
- Appeal If I am not mistaken, TDSAT entertains applications from group of consumers if your interest is being compromised. I am...
- India as an Information Technology Giant India as an Information Technology Giant Is India an IT superpower? Unfortunately, there is not much of truth in it....
- TRAI- Is it the real Boss? Another one of those idiocies that plays out in Indian Telecom market. TDSAT has scrapped the order for reduction of...
- TRAI: Under fire, again Another planted story in the media against TRAI. I was surprised that this happened to be Business Standard. They are...
- Right to Information The Right to Information is a momentous bill. However, I have a reason to be cynical about the same. Traditionally...
- Denial of Information As the momentous occasion of transcribing Human genome has become history, the spin offs have been amazing. For after years,...
- Right to Information Act This is truly iconic and a landmark act passed in recent times. They have slowly expanded the ambit to include...
Calling all CITIZENS OF INDIA WHO ARE CHEATED/DEFRAUDED BY AIRTEL
Dear Bretheren,
Kindly view 15th April Indian Express and The Hindu (Both Chennai edition)
http://expressbuzz.com/cities/chennai/customer-files-complaint-against-airtel/165478.html and
http://www.hindu.com/2010/04/15/stories/2010041559660300.htm
While we applaud Mr.Infant Dinesh for his bold initiative, my heart goes out to the rural folks AND other lesser mortals who otherwise won’t have any clue to the “gullible” marketing techniques of Private operators like Airtel. The sections in which the cases are registered by the Chennai Suburban Police shows the seriousness of the case, as I whistle-blowed couple of weeks ago, after hearing the language against Airtel, posted in various online forums by all of you.
Can we do together and make Airtel kneel-down and pay-up? Shall we have people volunteering from each state to file a police case and others following up with their complaints based on the Infant Dinesh model? Concentrate on VAS related frauds, they are huge, we found after a research. It’s against the LAW, charging without customer’ consent. Hence the police are taking it seriously and are looking at more evidence.
To start with Kindly email your complaint against Airtel to infantdinesh at gmail dot com [email protected] or gatesandwindows at gmail dot com [email protected] with subject Airtel. Write in brief a) Your basic details-Account or phone no, b) Your complaint c)Response from Airtel d) Quantify the tangible losses e) What are the intangible losses – Like losing connection, time waste, mental torture etc.,, if possible quantify that as well.
People in Chennai please contact Mr.Infant Dinesh @ 98413 14812(Folks, he’s an advocate as well) or myself @ 98410 47174 RIGHT NOW. With you, together, we’ll be meeting the Police Commissioner next week as per plan for the next steps.
Please pass on this message to your near and dear as well so as they can share their experiences as well.
Look forward to everyone’s support.
Good day!
Warm Rgds
V.Ravichander
- spam
- offensive
- disagree
- off topic
Like