If Department of Telecommunications (DoT) accepts the full recommendation of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) you will get the much-wanted relief on the really bad service provided by international SIM card and global calling card companies. During the recent survey conducted by the telecom watchdog, almost 50 percent of the users were unsatisfied with the services offered by International SIM cards or Global Calling cards. Taking the response into consideration TRAI has now suggested full refund and Rs 5000 penalty if international SIM cards fail to work.
What’s TRAI recommendation? In case the international SIM card you own doesn’t activate or you can’t use the card for reasons beyond your control like poor network coverage, incompatibility of handsets etc, then this global calling card companies should refund the full amount you paid for service. In addition, they also need to pay a penalty of Rs 5000 as a compensation.
Other recommendation from TRAI
- Full refund of the money paid for International SIM cards or Global Calling cards.
- Rs 5000 penalty as compensation for the inconvenience and incidental charges.
- The penalty and refund should be remitted to the customer within 15 days of reporting an issue about the card.
- Purchase of Global Calling cards and International SIM cards to be done only through digital mode. That means you can buy this cards via Net Banking, Credit cards, Debit cards or e-Wallets. In that case, you also need to provide Bank account details, Aadhar Card or Pan card with the service provider.
- TRAI has also recommended a grievance redressal mechanism consisting of representatives from the Service provider and DoT.
- It will be made mandatory for the service providers to inform the users about the grievance redressal mechanism in case they find the services to be unsatisfactory.
TRAI also recommends cancelling the permit of those international SIM card companies, whose complaints of non-working of SIM cards count up more than 10 percent of the total number of cards sold monthly.