Telecom Lead India: TRAI says telecom operators may face penalty of up to Rs 10 lakh for submitting false and incomplete information in the action taken report (ATR) regarding metering and billing system.
The telecom regulator, issuing Quality of Service (Code of Practice for Metering and Billing Accuracy) (Amendment) Regulations, 2013, said that TRAI can impose a financial disincentive of Rs 1 lakh per week on telecom companies for delay in submitting audit and action taken reports.
The regulations aims to minimise incidences of billing complaints and seeks to protect the interest of consumers.
Mobile service providers are required to appoint an auditor from the panel of auditors notified by TRAI to examine at its cost, metering and billing system of wireline and wireless services on annual basis and submit the report by July 31.
Besides, telcos shall submit an action taken report on each audit observation containing details of the action taken on observations made by the auditors on the audit reports by November 15.
Financial disincentive at the rate of Rs 1 lakh per week for delay in submission of audit reports and action taken reports by the service providers and financial disincentive not exceeding Rs 10 lakh per action taken report for false or incomplete information in the action taken report.
