Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2020 : Eleventh Amendment
New Delhi, the 30th September, 2020
TELECOM CONSUMERS PROTECTION (ELEVENTH AMENDMENT) REGULATIONS, 2020 (07 OF 2020)
No. 301-20/2020-F&EA.----In exercise of the powers conferred by section 36, read with sub-clauses (i) and (v) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 11, of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India hereby makes the following regulations further to amend the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012 (2 of 2012), namely:
1. (1) These regulations may be called the Telecom Consumers Protection (Eleventh Amendment) Regulations, 2020;
(2) They shall come into force after thirty days from the date of their publication in the Official Gazette. |
2. In regulation 9 of the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012 (hereinafter referred to as the principal regulations), the proviso thereunder shall be omitted. |
3. In regulation 10A of the principal regulations, sub-regulation (4) shall be omitted. |
4. After Chapter V of the principal regulations, the following chapter shall be inserted, namely:- |
“Chapter VI
Measures to protect consumers from bill shocks while using international mobile roaming service |
17. Default status of international mobile roaming service – Every service provider shall ensure that the international mobile roaming service is inactive by default for all consumers and shall be activated only on the request of a consumer and once activated, it may be deactivated at any time on the request of the consumer.
Provided that in case of existing consumers, specific choice of every consumer to continue with or to discontinue the activated international mobile roaming service, if applicable, may be obtained through SMS, email or mobile |
application, if available within thirty days from the date of publication of these regulations in the Official Gazette. |
18. Information to consumers on activation of international mobile roaming service – Every service provider shall, immediately on activation of international mobile roaming service, provide to the consumer, through SMS, email and mobile application, if available, the following information:-
(i) the fact of activation of international mobile roaming service; and (ii) the applicable tariff (if any) for the activation of international mobile roaming service (one-time charges as well as recurring charges as may be applicable). |
19. Information to consumers on selection of tariff - Every service provider shall, immediately on selection of a tariff for availing international mobile roaming service for visiting country(ies), provide to the consumer through SMS, email and mobile application, if available, the following information:-
(i) the applicable rates for provision of voice, SMS and data services while roaming internationally; and (ii) the details of specific carriers (visiting country operators) required to be selected, if applicable, for availing the agreed tariff and consequences of any failure in this regard; and (iii) a list of actions to be performed by the consumer to avoid bill shocks while using international mobile roaming service; and (iv) the details of consumer protection policies in place for protecting the consumer from bill shocks while using international mobile roaming service: or (v) an URL to the relevant details as in (i) to (iv) above from which printable and saveable file (s) can be accessed and downloaded. |
20. Information to consumer as soon as the mobile equipment is switched on by the consumer in the visiting country – Every service provider shall, immediately after the consumer switches on his mobile equipment in the visiting country,
(a) provide to the consumer all the information and in the manner as specified in regulation 19; (b) alert and advise the consumer, through SMS, in case the consumer has not subscribed to any specific International Mobile Roaming Tariff Pack offered by the service provider, regarding the possibility of incurring significantly high charges due to usage of voice, SMS or data services at standard rates. |
21. Information to consumers at different stages of exhaustion of entitled data usage while roaming internationally as per the selected tariff - Every service provider shall, through SMS, email and mobile application, if available, provide an alert, when the data usage exceeds fifty per cent, eighty per cent, ninety per cent and one hundred per cent of the data entitlement. |
22. Information to the consumer who may initiate use of international mobile roaming service in a country or area not covered by the tariff subscribed or where the applicable tariff differs from the subscribed tariff - Every service provider shall, in case a consumer initiates use of international mobile roaming service in a country or area not covered by the tariff subscribed or where the applicable tariff differs from the subscribed tariff, through SMS, email and mobile application, if available,
(a) inform the consumer of the fact of movement in a zone which is not covered under the opted tariff; (b) alert and advise the consumer regarding the possibility of incurring significantly high charges due to usage of voice, SMS or data services at standard rates; and (c) Provide the consumer, details of tariff applicable in such uncovered zone. |
23. Establishment of facility for providing information about the account of the consumer while roaming internationally - Every service provider shall, establish or allot a separate toll free short code to enable the consumers to seek, through SMS, while roaming internationally, the following information:- |
(i) the applicable tariff for international mobile roaming service; and
(ii) the amount billed or charged to the account of the consumer, for international mobile roaming service.”
“Every service provider shall, through SMS or USSD, provide to all consumers of the Cellular Mobile Telephone Service, having international roaming facility on their mobile connection, an alert, immediately after the consumer roams outside the territory of India, advising the consumer to deactivate the data services in his mobile phone if he does not intend to use data services while roaming outside the country.”
- a. Requiring the subscribers to request for activation of international roaming;
- b. Pre-activating the international roaming; or
- c. Automatically activating the international roaming when a customer lands abroad.
Source : http://egazette.nic.in/WriteReadData/2020/222233.pdf
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