Should you be charged for an undelivered SMS or for a call that dropped because of network problems? You shouldn't but you are. Thankfully, there is help on the way. Mid-May, mobile service operators will receive orders from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to change some of their current business practices -- especially the value-added services, premium rate services that come pre-stored in the SIM card, the lack of details on international roaming charges, credit limits and short bill payment periods.
TRAI is also taking up the issue of operators charging users for every SMS being sent and not actual delivery (only 80-85 per cent SMSes are delivered) and for messages that are sent to wrong numbers and even landlines.
It is also concerned over users getting charged for calls that get 'dropped' due to congestion on the network (nearly 3 per cent of all calls). Since calls are billed on a per-minute basis, users get shortchanged for no fault of theirs and pay a price for network inefficiency.
Public consultations will be held on these two issues, after which the regulator will come out with a firm policy.
TRAI is now planning a special regulatory initiative to bring in more accuracy in calculation of call charges.
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