ISLAMABAD: The Complaint Cell of Pakistan Telecommunication Authority (PTA) has redressed 34,465 complaints of telecom consumers during one year, showing overall 99.26 per cent redressal rate of total complaints.
The Authority during the period (2016-17) received 34,723 consumer complaints against mobile operators, Pakistan Telecommunication Company Limited (PTCL), Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and Wireless Local Loop (WLL) operators.
Of the total 34,723 complaints, the Authority received 22,372 against Cellular Mobile Operators (CMOs), 12,019 against PTCL, 213 against ISPs and 119 against WLL operators.
Similarly, of the total 34,465 redressed complaints, 22,163 against CMOs were redressed, 11,976 against PTCL, 207 against ISPs and 119 complaints against WLL operators were redressed during the period.
As per PTA’s annual report, the Authority has established an easily accessible, efficient and state-of-the-art complaint management system so that consumers can lodge complaints via phone, fax, email, website and personal visits.
Clear SOPs have been put in place whereby a received complaint
is immediately taken up with concerned operator and the complainant is kept in loop throughout effective resolution of the problem.
The dedicated Consumer Protection Directorate at PTA receives thousands of complaints against cellular, fixedline, wireless, broadband, Long Distance International (LDI) and other licensed operators. Most of the telecom subscriber base comprises cellular mobile subscribers.
Accordingly, most of the received complaints pertain to the CMOs (22,372) while PTCL has second largest number of complaints registered against its services (12,019). PTA has managed to effectively redress 99% of received complaints which is a remarkable effort for consumer protection.
Moreover, the report said during 2016-17, 99,748 mobile handsets have also been blocked in Pakistan while 3,134 handsets have been unblocked by PTA after due verification of actual owner.
International Mobile Equipment Identity (IMEI) number is a unique 15 digit number used to identify each mobile handset including information about its model, make, manufacturer etc.
PTA uses the IMEI number to block a snatched, stolen, lost handset when requested by its legitimate owner.
In case the handset is recovered by owner, the same IMEI number is also unblocked by PTA after necessary verification of the ownership.
