NTA is also a semi-judicial body that has authority to settle disputes between telecom companies and customers relating to telecommunication services. The demand from consumer rights activists have come at a time when the government is mulling over restructuring NTA and strengthening it.
The Forum for Protection of Consumer Rights, Nepal (FPCRN) has said that it is time to restructure NTA as the regulation area is increasing along with the entry of new technologies and growth in subscriber base. By February this year, the total number of customers of voice telephony crossed 23 million and the number of data users was over eight million.
As per NTA rules, any customer can lodge a complaint regarding telecom service at NTA. However, the regulator has physical presence only in the Capital. “In the initial phase, the government must set up
regional offices of NTA in Biratnagar and Nepalgunj, which will carry out other regulatory works besides addressing complaints,” said Jyoti Baniya, general secretary of the forum.
Consumers are being cheated regarding quality and cost, however, they do not have a proper channel to register their complaints, according to Baniya. With the rapid growth in the telecom sector and customer base, customers’ concerns over services they use have also been increasing.
Poor service quality, high charge, problem in recharge card, and unwanted SMS are some of the main issues of consumers, as per complaints received at Hello Sarkar under the Prime Minister’s Office.
Meanwhile, FPCRN is also conducting a consumer survey in five districts — Kathmandu, Jhapa, Chitwan, Kailali and Jumla — with focus on quality of service (QoS) and tariff of telecom companies. Other issues of the survey include data service, customer care, charging of taxes (telecom service charge and value added tax) and maintenance.
The survey has collected feedback of services of all six telecom companies — Nepal Telecom, Ncell, Smart Telecom, United Telecom Limited, Nepal Satellite Telecom and CG Communications, which was formerly known as STM Telecom Sanchar — based on their presence in the five districts. FPCRN has said that they are planning to make the study report public within two weeks.
“Customers have mainly complained of mobile service being poor,” said Shreeram Khadka, a consumer rights activist involved in the survey. As for fixed line, our preliminary result of the study has revealed that after the service is disconnected, telecom companies take a long time to restore the service, he added.
- See more at: http://thehimalayantimes.com/fullNews.php?headline=Consumer+activists+seek+regional+offices+of+NTA+&NewsID=412374#sthash.oNog8uqz.dpuf
No comments:
Post a Comment