New Delhi: Telecom regulator TRAI on Wednesday refused to reconsider the new service quality norms that require telecom companies to compensate customers for service outages and non-compliance with benchmarks.

TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said the norms have been issued after deep deliberations and due deliberations.

New rules have been issued after consideration

"We have deliberated on this process for a very long time, the norms have been issued after deep deliberation and due deliberation and keeping in mind the quality of service that the customer gets and the quality of service that the service provider has to provide," Lahoti said during India SatCom 2024 organised by Broadband India Forum (BIF).

TRAI will not reconsider its decision

Actually, the TRAI chief was asked whether the regulator would reconsider its new norms on service quality. He said this in response to this. Lahoti further said that TRAI hopes that service providers will improve their services and customers can get the right quality service.

Service should not be interrupted for more than 24 hours

Let us tell you, telecom operators will have to work under the new service quality rules issued by sector regulator TRAI on Friday. According to the rules, customers will have to be compensated in case of service disruption for more than 24 hours at the district level. TRAI has increased the penalty amount from Rs 50,000 to Rs 1 lakh for failing to meet each quality benchmark under the new rules.

The regulator has introduced a graded penalty system of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 2 lakh, Rs 5 lakh and Rs 10 lakh for different scales of rule violations under the amended regulations - "Standards of Quality of Service for Access (Wireline and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Services Regulations, 2024".