Chennai: Thousands of Chennaiites, customers of private telecom companies, are now running from pillar to post to change their SIM cards to other networks. In the wake of three major telecom companies not providing quality service and with unconfirmed reports about winding up operations, public are now feeling the pinch.
Consumer activists and the public feel that the Centre has messed their routine life by linking technology with basic necessities. “Linking of mobile number to Aadhaar, gas connection and banks has forced us to hold our phone numbers and if there is no network service, we are unable to access our accounts and this adds to our mental agony and we are forced to retain a number due to the bureaucratic intervention”, fumes civic activist T. Sadagoppan of Pattabiram. Consumers are suffering at the hands of private telecom companies and by linking the phone numbers to various state and central government operations life is extremely difficult if your SIM card fails to work, he adds.
According to V. Sathiabalan, former telecom advisory committee member, unfair trade practices by the telecom companies have started adversely affecting public. There are complaints of data base leakage, denial to number portability, hidden charges to customers and now after data card boom, there is no transparency with the downloads and the costs. All these factors also affect the public mental health and it's time the government and the policy-makers addressed the issues, he added.
Meanwhile a senior official with BSNL maintained that the Chennai market is now volatile due to closing down of a few telecom operators and monopoly of telecom majors. There are customers who want to shift from private players to BSNL, but private players do unfair business tactics through call centres and give negative feedback and temporary offers to ensure that BSNL does not gain. To the query on mobile numbers being made mandatory to avail services, the official said that technology should be offered and not imposed under the pretext of development.
