Saturday, December 18, 2010

Telecom Policy Of India Is Anti Common Man

Department of telecommunications (DoT) India has been in controversies these days. These controversies were bound to arise due to defective, arbitrary and user unfriendly policies and strategies of DoT.

The telecom policy and respective notifications under the same, as issued by DoT from time to time, are seldom in public interest and are never for the benefit of telecom consumers. These policies are primarily drafted for the benefit of big telecom companies and self serving interests of DoT India.

Take few examples in this regard. Telemarketing nuisance is a well known fact in India. Neither DoT India nor telecom regulatory authority of India (TRAI) has done anything in this regard. Telemarketing woes and harassment would continue in India for at least five more years.

Similarly, the reverification requirements of DoT are arbitrary and anti consumer. Even if a person has deposited all her documents at the time of getting a connection, service providers like Vodafone India are harassing its users by passing the buck to DoT. If DoT does not take any action against companies like Vodafone, naturally DoT is the main culprit for harassing mobile users in India.

Another example is the number portability in India. DoT is extending the deadline for number portability in India from time to time. This gives mobiles users of India limited choice and force them to stick to their present service providers.

It seems the telecom policy of India is not at all meant for the common man. On the contrary it is harassing and troubling the common man.