Airtel to compensate Hyderabad man for delay in SIM activation

HYDERABAD: Mobile number portability (MNP), which is supposed to be a smooth process became a tough exercise for a consumer. In failing to complete the process in time, the telecom company Airtel has been directed to shell out Rs 22,500 to the consumer.

B Krishna, a resident of Saroornagar, highlighted his plight at a consumer forum after he had a bitter experience in porting his mobile number from Idea network to Airtel.

In the complaint, Krishna said that in December 2016 he was encouraged by Airtel to initiate portability, promising him of better offers of talk time and internet. Within days they started the process and, according to process, his old network got deactivated. But to his surprise, activation to the new network was not initiated. A series of new SIM cards were sent to him, but that was also not activated.

“Initially, they said that the number would be ported within 48 hours, then a week. But, even after that, the number was not activated until two months,” Krishna said. Eventually, he raised a complaint at a district consumer forum, in January, following which the company initiated the process of portability. The process was completed within a month after Krishna raised the complaint. Meanwhile, the company maintained that the consumer has filed the complaint with ulterior motives with an intention to bring disrepute to the company.

The consumer forum directed the cellular services company to pay Rs 20,000 to the consumer as compensation for delaying the activation of the SIM card and Rs 250 towards costs.