Vodafone, Aircel and Idea non-copliant with billing standards, says TRAI

The percentage of billing disputes against five telecom operators (Aircel, Vodafone, Idea, BSNL and MTS) ranges between 0.11 percent and 2.42 percent. Aircel's score in Maharashtra is the worst at 2.42 percent.

In Aircel's case, 0.11 percent to 0.25 percent of its post-paid bills in Gujarat, Jammu and Kashmir, Kolkata, Karnataka, Punjab and Rajasthan were disputed.

Pre-paid customers of Aircel disputed the charges dedeucted in Jammu and Kashmir, Mumbai, Maharashtra, Madhya Pradesh, Orissa. Around 0.11 to 2.42 percent of pre-paid bills of Aircel were dsiputed in these circles.

Idea Cellular was found non-compliant with billing quality of service benchmark in Gujarat, Haryana and Karnataka for post-paid services.

Aircel and Idea are the two companies which could not resolve there billing disputes within four weeks, the time set under regulation as quality benchmark, as per the report.

Complaints against Vodafone's post-paid services did not comply with benchmark set by TRAI in Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh (East). Around 0.24 percent of pre-paid bills raised by the company were disputed in Bihar circle.

Pre-paid and post-paid customers of Sistema Shyam Teleservices, which runs services under brand name of MTS, disputed 0.15 percent of bills raised in Delhi circle.

TRAI report also noticed that faulty billings by telecom operators for post-paid services increased to 5.68 percent during the reported quarter from 4.37 percent in previous quarter.

The regulator has found that many customers of Aircel, BSNL, Idea Cellular, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices, Uninor and Vodafone in some of the telecom circles had to wait for more than a minute to get their calls answered.

No immediate comments were received by companies on the matter.