Call drops, overcharging, poor service and overpriced recharge cards in rural areas have become normal phenomena, said consumer rights activists who gathered at an interaction programme on mobile phone service, network and quality held by the National Consumer Forum on Thursday. The event was based on the theme “Fix our phone rights!” of World Consumer Rights Day (WCRD) 2014.
“Low quality is one major issue amid a growing number of users. However, there are also cases of customers being cheated with overpriced recharge cards in rural areas,” said Prem Lal Maharjan, president of the National Consumer Forum. He said that the government must take action against black marketing of recharge cards and devise a mechanism to compensate consumers getting inferior service.
Similarly, Uma Kant Parajuli, officiating secretary at the Ministry of Infor-mation and Communications, underlined the need to introduce a provision to return money to consumers who have been overcharged through hidden costs. Parajuli is also the chairman of the board of Nepal Telecom (NT). “Companies should be able to identify victimised customers individually and offer compensation,” he added.
Speaking at the programme, Narayan Prasad Bidari, director general of the Department of Commerce and Supply Management, shared his experience of being cheated by NT’s post-paid mobile service. “My cell phone service remained down for 14 hours even though I had paid the bill on time,” he said. However, he did not mention monitoring the service and prices of companies even though the department is empowered to do so.
As per the existing laws, the Commerce Department and the Nepal Telecommunicat-ions Authority (NTA) are the two government authorities charged with ensuring fair phone services. Kumar Sharma, director of the NTA, said that amid complaints of overcharging by telecom operators, they were preparing to start a billing audit from the current fiscal year.
“This will help us know if companies have been charging for services as per the NTA’s approved rates or not,” he said.
Anoop Ranjan Bhattarai, managing director of NT, said that they were continuously working towards improving the service quality. “To provide better customer service, we will also be establishing 10 customer support centres in the major cities of the country within a month,” he said. Such centres will help customers get hassle-free customer care and bill payment facilities. This year the WCRD is being observed on March 15 with the agenda of fair mobile services. In Nepal, around 22.5 million people use telephone services with 20 million of them using mobile phones, as per the NTA.
Access to an affordable and reliable service with fair contracts explained in clear, complete and accessible language, fair and transparent billing and devising easy complaints hearing are the focus of the WCRD this year.
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