'Kolkata last in terms of customer satisfaction'

Kolkata, Apr 29: Kolkata, the first city in the country to have mobile phone in 1995, stood at the bottom among the four metros in terms of customer satisfaction, according to a quarterly survey conducted by Trai, the telecom regulatory authorities of the country.

The quality of service(QoS) survey, which gauges customer satisfaction and evaluate performance of the cellular service providers, found that the mobile users here complained about calls going blank mid-way, non-availability of network and billing problems.

The Trai survey, was conducted amongst 3,615 cellphone users in the city between October and December,2006.

Benchmarks were set with regard to various parameters, like billing services for pre-paid and post-paid connections, network performance and availability and helpline services. But the service providers in Kolkata failed to live up to the Trai-prescribed benchmarks.

While overall customer satisfaction level hovered around 82 to 84 per cent for all the operators in Kolkata, it is in the range of 90 to 95 per cent in Chennai and Mumbai.

Trai initiated action based on the survey report. With complaints on service quality increasing with the growth in networks, Trai has planned to come out with a national circular on service quality on 26 April.

UNI