TRAI says telcos failed to meet consumer satisfaction level

New Delhi: Telecom operators failed to meet customer satisfaction benchmark, as per a survey conducted by the sector regulator Trai across three circles -- Delhi, Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka.

A majority of customers in these circles are dissatisfied by efforts of telecom operators to address the call drop issue and other major counts such as network signal, data speed, customer care service, overall telecom service by their service providers etc, as per the survey report.

"It has been observed that none of the service providers in the three service areas have achieved the benchmark for customer satisfaction. The level of satisfaction was around 50 per cent of the Trai benchmark," The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in the report.

The regulator made automated calls to mobile phone numbers to collect the response of subscribers. "In Delhi LSA, the satisfaction level is highest for Airtel and the lowest was observed for Reliance Communications Ltd," Trai said.

Airtel gained highest satisfaction score for its effort to address call drop menace in Delhi and MP. Airtel also scored highest for clarity on post-paid billing information, customer care service, data speed, network signal in the national capital.

The telecom major scored highest for data speed in Delhi while Reliance Jio was top rated by subscribers in MP and Karnataka.

State-run telcom firm MTNL scored least on efforts to address call drop problem in Delhi and Reliance Communications in MP and Karnataka.

RCom scored lowest on some others counts as well in Delhi area which include customer care service, voice quality during call, overall service, mobile number portability processing, data service, network signal.

"In Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka, the performances of Reliance Jio, Vodafone, Airtel, BSNL and Idea were comparable. In Madhya Pradesh and Karnataka the lowest level is observed mostly in the network of Reliance Communication Ltd," Trai said.

Tata Teleservices was rated top operator in Karnataka for its effort to address call drop problem.

For overall telecom service, Tata scored highest in Delhi and Reliance Jio in MP and Karnataka.