Section 3 in The Telecom Consumers Protection and Redressal of Grievances Regulations, 2007
3. Establishment of Call Centre. - (1) Every service provider, falling in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1, shall, within sixty days from the date of commencement of these regulations, establish a "Call Centre" for redressal of grievances of its consumers, and, such Call Centre shall be accessible to its consumers round the clock during all days in a week:
Provided that the Consumer Grievance Redressal Mechanism, set up by the service providers (including the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd., and the Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, Ltd.) at Call Centre level in accordance with the instructions of the Government of India, Ministry of Communications and Information Technology (Department of Telecommunications), Licensing Cell (Basic Services Group) vide No.16-6/2005-BS-II, dated the 22nd September, 2005, shall continue to be the Call Centre for the purposes of these regulations:Provided further that a service provider, falling in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1, who has been granted a license after the commencement of these regulations, shall establish, simultaneously with provision of services, a Call Centre for redressal of grievances of its consumers:Provided also that a service provider, falling in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1, who is providing,-(a)different services in a licensed service area, may, at its option, set up one or more Call Centres, being common or separate, for such services being provided by it;(b)services in two or more licensed service areas, may, at its option, set up one or more Call Centres, being common or separate, for one or more such service areas.(2)Every service provider, falling in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1, shall-(a)employ or engage sufficient number of officers or employees at its Call Centres;(b)earmark or allot or establish a basic telephone or cellular mobile telephone number having sufficient lines or connections to be called as the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number" or "special number", as the case may be, at its Call Centres, so as to ensure compliance with the Quality of Service benchmarks for the parameter "Response Time to the Customer for Assistance" both for percentage of calls answered electronically by interactive voice response system (IVRS) and percentage of calls answered by operator (voice to voice) specified in the Regulation on Quality of Service of Basic and Cellular Mobile Services, 2005 (11 of 2005), dated the 1st July, 2005 published under F. No. 305-2/2005(QoS) Vol. II on the 8th July, 2005 and the Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations, 2006 (11 of 2006), dated the 6th October, 2006 published under No. 304-6/2004-QoS on the 10th October, 2006 in the Official Gazette, Part III, Section 4, as amended from time to time by the Authority.(3)No call charges or short message service charges shall be levied upon, or payable by its consumers, for calls made, or, short message service sent, to the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number" or "special number", as the case may be, referred to in clause (b) of sub-regulation (2).(4)Every service provider, falling in clause (a) or clause (b) of sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1, shall, immediately on establishment of its Call Centre, give, through a public notice in a newspaper published in Hindi/English language and in a newspaper published in an Indian language in circulation in the area in which such service provider is providing services, and, through the telephone bills if issued by the service provider, the contact details including therein the "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number" of such Call Centres in respect of each licensed service area for which the Call Centres have been established and thereafter give such public notice at least once in twelve months in the same manner:Provided that in case of change of Call Centres or change of its "toll free number" or "consumer care number" or "help line number", the same shall be intimated through public notice and telephone bills if issued by the service provider, in the same manner as provided in these regulations.
