Author: Rama Singh, Chaudhary Charan Singh University, Meerut

Nowadays, digital services have become an active platform to get service for anything in seconds, but simultaneously the consumers are also dissatisfied with the service quality, which leads to the disputes between consumers and service providers. This study analyzes how we can spread awareness among the consumers to raise the questions about poor-quality services and can raise voices against it. This research is based on an analytical method in which the issues and problems have been stated with the recommendations to solve those issues.

According to many researchers, all research includes a problem regarding their field of research, and there are also solutions hidden in the issues themselves. Likewise, in this research, many issues have been raised based on consumer protection in the telecom and digital communication sector, and their solutions have been suggested, which will help to tackle these issues.

In a competitive market, it is assumed that consumers are also competitive in order to effectively navigate market conditions. Whenever there is a dispute between the consumer and service provider, it is assumed that the consumer is well informed about the level of markets available. 

KEYWORDS: TRAI, TDSAT, market competency, awareness, liberalization

BACKGROUND

There is a rapid growth of the telecom and digital communication sector in both developed and developing nations. The development of both telecom and digital communication has made for effective economic growth. It has also increased the efficiency in sectors like education, health, agriculture, etc.

Through liberalization, which was started around the 1980s and 1990s, we expect the sovereignty of consumers to express their free choices in the markets. The condition of consumer satisfaction is still bad in many developed and developing countries. The worst scenario has been seen in the developing countries because of the poor quality and poor service.

As Averitt and Lande (1997) suggest, consumers also play a crucial role if they want to be sovereign over their choices. They have to make rational decisions according to the situations that arise in the market.

In this competitive market, consumers face difficulties such as incomplete information, fake service, etc. Here, the consumer should have the skill to be able to differentiate whether the service is original or fake. For this, the consumer must have strong skills to match their level with the suppliers. Here, for the welfare of the consumer, consumer protection is important in this potential market so that the supplier does not misuse their power while supplying appropriate services.

REGULATORY AUTHORITY

There are many regulatory authorities working for consumer protection, but what if these authorities, instead of regulating, starts ignoring the voices of consumers?

Regulatory authorities such as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), which was constituted under the TRAI Act of 1997, provide an effective regulatory framework which safeguards, and ensure fair competition and consumer protection. Another authority is the Telecom Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), which was established with both original and appellate jurisdiction. It works to resolve the disputes related to the telecom sector; it can be a dispute between the group of consumers and service providers.

Both the authorities are assumed to be responsible, and their working is effective and in favor of consumers facing issues such as misinformation, fake products, and poor-quality services.

AWARENESS OF ROLES 

Here, the regulators should know their roles and responsibilities while performing their duties to regulate the workings of suppliers.

They should have the information of the disputes they are resolving, like what his/her rights have been violated and what will be the procedure of resolving and providing the protection to the consumer.

The regulators can intervene in the matters of consumer and service provider only on the basis of the nature of the complaint; then, accordingly, the process of investigation begins. At the time of investigation, the regulators are supposed to perform their duty in a neutral manner. And they should consider whether the service provider is liable for not performing his duty in an appropriate manner or the consumer is liable for a fake complaint. But mostly, there is a fault of the service provider only.

CHALLENGES FACED BY CONSUMERS 

 It has been researched and tested that the service providers are providing services of very poor quality compared to the required standards.

In this situation, the consumer feedback and conduction of a survey among consumers is a crucial step. But the sad part is that this survey and feedback campaign is not conducted periodically and does not cover each and every corner of the country, especially rural areas.

That’s why the service providers don’t have the fear of the consequences that they may face after breaking regulations. There should be a campaign related to digital marketing where the specialists use their knowledge and teach the consumers about the telecom and digital sectors and about the market competency and the roles of consumers in the market.

The problem statement stated puts an emphasis on the importance of consumer protection and empowerment of consumer complaints in telecom and digital communication. 

Moreover, Ong and Teh (2016) suggested that the consumer who is well informed about what, where and how to complain for the redressal of disputes is more aware than the uninformed consumer. Most of the time the citizens who are well informed have the capability to raise the voice against the unpleasant experience in the marketplace. 

Through research 3 analysis have been made:- 

1) Consumers have a high level of information about telecom and digital communication.  The consumer must have the knowledge of the current market scenario and always try to update themselves with the change in the market. 

2) Factors affecting the level of information among consumers – one of the factors that affect the level of information among the consumer is resources. Lack of resources plays a big role in the life of consumers which leads to consumer dissatisfaction. Along with resources there is also lack of awareness in many corners of the nation. 

3) How information affects at the time when the consumer files a complaint – while filing a complaint the consumer should be well informed about the procedure and the facts he/she is going to present and the consequences of the same.

Research questions have arisen with the specific objective stated in this research. The question arises about the consumers who are the key stakeholders of consumer protection.

The following three questions have been framed after in-depth analysis:

A) What restrains a consumer from getting awareness about telecom and digital communication?

                 - COMPLEX TERMS AND CONDITIONS – It has been seen that many telecom and digital service providers use complex terms and often display long contracts and hidden clauses that make it difficult for consumers to understand, and most of the time the consumers just agree to the terms and conditions instead of reading them, which can cause a big issue for the consumer sometimes.

                - DISPLAYING MISLEADING ADVERTISEMENTS – To attract the large number of consumers, the service providers display the misleading advertisement, which attracts the consumer, but they don’t know the hidden fault of that service.

                 - DIGITAL LITERACY IS LOW – many consumers don’t even have a basic digital knowledge, like how to visit the website and how to analyze the best platform to get better service.

                - CYBERTHREATS – there is a lack of awareness and knowledge among the consumers about how their data is used and stored by the service provider and how it is being used by their third party.

B) Are regulatory authorities performing their duties transparently?

Generally, TRAI on a daily basis issues the guidelines about the new tariffs and call drop compensation. These regulations stated that it’s mandatory for the service providers to disclose the current amount of tariffs.

 Here the Consumer Protection Authority can issue a suo moto action if they come to know about any unfair trade. Many online platforms allow the consumers to raise their issues directly.

LACK OF TRANSPARENCY – many policies and information are too critical for an ordinary citizen to understand. Most of the time it has been noticed that the penalties are imposed on a person, but the unfair trade practices are still continued. Rural people have limited internet reach, and they are also not aware of the guidelines of the authorities.

C) How well- informed consumers are more competent than uninformed consumers?

The well-informed consumers can do better decision making and can take appropriate actions in a critical situation. They can protect themselves from exploitation and can use the regulatory mechanisms in a proper manner.

They will have effective knowledge of cyberattacks and can use their data wisely. They can provide honest feedback to the regulators in policy making. 

They can reach the best service providers and can ask the service providers to increase the quality and standards of the service. 

The consumer protection in telecom and digital communication sector signified a great importance. Using data by the service provider is a highly risky job. As consumers also share their personal details with the risk to avail the particular service. Here the concept of ‘Trust’ plays a crucial role between the consumer and service provider. 

The consumer has the equal right to receive the information from the advertisement of their own choice. Here is an important case law over this concept:-

In Tata Press Ltd v. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd. (1995), the Tata press limited published the yellow pages advertisements based on the businesses. The MTNL raised the issue that the commercial advertisement is not protected under freedom of speech. 

Now there were two issues- first, whether the advertisement is the form of free speech and second whether the consumer has the right to receive commercial information? 

The court held that the commercial advertisement is protected under Article 19(1) (a) of the Indian constitution and the consumers have the right to receive the commercial information to make free choices. 

So whether it is commercial or any other advertisement everyone has the right to express their speech and everyone has the right to receive without any interference. 

RESEARCH DESIGN 

           A) DESCRIPTIVE AND ANALYTICAL – The study will describe the in-depth analysis of consumer protection in the telecom and digital communication sector. This research has analyzed the existing, old and new situation of consumers in the telecom and digital sector. 

          B) DOCTRINAL RESEARCH – This research includes the detailed analysis of the statutes such as Consumer Protection Act 2019, TRAI Act and their rules and case laws. 

         C) COMPARATIVE APPROACH – There is a detailed comparison of the situation and behavior of the consumers in the old, existing and new scenario. There is a huge gap between the ideologies. 

 EXISTING/OLD SITUATION 

There was low awareness among the consumers about the telecom sector. They have a lack of understanding of the hidden charges and clauses and complex information. Before liberalization the majority of services of the telecom sector were provided by the government entities like BSNL, etc. that’s why there was less competition and choices among the consumers. There was poor service quality and high prices and waiting for long hours was common at that time. There were no regulatory authorities at that time for redressal and plans were not clearly defined to the consumers. 

GAP BETWEEN THE OLD AND NEW IDEOLOGY 

In this modern era, there are huge ideological gaps. Now the consumers are more aware about the services they are choosing and many consumers are literate enough to understand the terms and conditions provided by the suppliers. Due to the multiple providers now the competition in the market has increased. The services are better than the old times. Now consumers have to make the choices between the multiple services. Still there is a gap between the urban and rural areas related to digital literacy, still the rural people face exploitation. The regulatory authorities are now better but still imperfect towards their roles and responsibilities. Now there is more concern regarding the cyber threats, consumers have to stay alert and active upon the information they have to share to a particular service provider.

There is a very important case law related to this issue:- 

In Bharti Airtel Ltd. V. Union of India (2015), the consumers complained about the poor service quality and frequent call drops. So the TRAI issued the guidelines and directed to compensate the consumers but the airtel and telecom operators challenged that it is technically impossible to have zero call drops and the compensation can lead to a huge financial loss to their company. 

The Delhi High Court upheld that, if the consumer had faced problems with the quality of service or if the service provider had not fulfilled the duty as promised then the service providers are liable to compensate the consumers for their loss. 

OLD SITUATIONS OF CONSUMER IN TELECOM AND DIGITAL SECTOR 

• MONOPOLY WITH LIMITED CHOICES – Earlier the telecom sector was dominated by the government due to which the consumers had no power to bargain and poor service was provided. 

• NO EFFECTIVE REDRESSAL SYSTEM – There was no proper regulatory body to resolve the disputes and to hear the complaints of consumers 

• LACK OF AWARENESS – The consumers were less aware about the services provided at that time due to which they faced a lot of difficulty at the time of choosing appropriate services. 

  PRESENT SITUATION OF THE CONSUMERS – 

•   MORE AWARENESS – Now the consumers are more aware about the digital platforms. They know how to make decisions of their own choice. They have strong bargaining power. 

• UNLIMITED CHOICES – Multiple service providers have increased the competition in the market. It became difficult for the consumers to choose the appropriate services. 

• BETTER REDRESSAL SYSTEM – Now the redressal system is more effective than earlier. TRAI issues guidelines in the favor of consumers which are mandated for the service providers to obey. 

ROLE OF SERVICE PROVIDER 

• TRANSPARENCY – The service providers are directed to perform their duties and responsibilities in a transparent way. They are directed to mention each and every small detail of their services in the terms and conditions. 

• REDUCE COMPLEXITY – It is suggested to the service providers to mention the clauses and policies in the terms and conditions in a simple way so that the ordinary consumer can also understand the same. 

• GOOD REDRESSAL SYSTEM – The service providers are directed that if they were found not capable of fulfilling the duties as promised to the consumers then they are liable to compensate the consumers for their losses. 

TATA PRESS LTD. V. MTNL (1995) 

• It was recognized through this case that commercial advertisement can be protected as free speech by the article 19(1) (a). 

• Consumers have the right to receive information whether it is from commercial advertisement or any other advertisement. 

BHARTI AIRTEL LTD. V. UNION OF INDIA (2015) 

• Consumer complaint about the frequent call drops and the poor service quality 

• TRAI directed the service provider to compensate the consumer. 

• Airtel and other operators argued that it is impossible to assure zero call drops and granting compensation would lead to huge financial loss to the company. 

• Delhi High Court upheld that the company is liable to compensate the consumer as the service provider did not fulfill the duty as promised. 

  1) In the old situation there was no awareness and lack of a redressal system. The telecom sector was dominated by the government entities so the consumers have no freedom of choices. 

  2) In the present situation, the consumers are more aware and they have more bargaining power. They are well literate about the digital platforms and are capable of making their own choices. 

  3) Still service providers hide the terms, clauses and policies and still misleading advertisements persist.

  4) Regulatory authorities are partially transparent but not fully transparent. 

  5) Case laws depict the support of the judiciary towards consumer rights. 

 6) Well informed consumers are more competent than the less informed. 

For good telecom and digital communication sector there should be – a strong awareness programs, the tariffs and service plan should be simplified, there should be an improvement in the redressal process, TRAI should monitor the quality of service, misleading advertisements should be banned, awareness of data protection, should promote digital literacy and should encourage positive competition. 

The analysis of the telecom and digital communication sector shows that even if the consumers are enjoying their choices and services under the Consumer Protection Act, 2019 and TRAI guidelines, there are several challenges that consumers face. In the past, there was a lack of awareness and the consumers were monopolized by the government entities but now there is greater competition, partial transparency and remedies are available but still consumers face problems due to misleading advertisements and weak redressal mechanisms .

Therefore a balanced approach and improvement is needed in each field and situations.

Statutory Provisions

• Consumer Protection Act, No. 35 of 2019, § ___, INDIA CODE (2019).

• Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Regulations, TELECOM REGULATORY AUTHORITY OF INDIA, available at https://trai.gov.in.

Case Law

1. Bharti Airtel Ltd. v. Union of India, AIR 2015 SC 2583, (2015) 8 SCC 183.

2. Tata Press Ltd. v. Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd., AIR 1995 SC 2438, (1995) 5 SCC 139.

Books and Articles

• M.P. Jain, Indian Constitutional Law: Development and Impact, HeinOnline, https://heinonline.org (last visited Sept. 18, 2025).

• Consumer Protection in Telecom, ResearchGate, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/123456789_Consumer_Protection_Telecom (last visited Sept. 18, 2025).