Telenor to pay fine for causing biz loss

HYDERABAD: Telenor Communications, Begumpet, will pay a hefty sum to complainant Mr Bellamkonda Narendra, a resident from S R Nagar, as per the orders of the Consumer Forum in Hyderabad for blocking the complainant’s sim without any prior notice or reason causing him a heavy loss in his business.

The complainant stated that he had been using the prepaid services of Telenor for five years now and at the time of his sim activation, he had produced his photo and address proof which was verified by the opposite party. But on November 2015, his sim was suddenly blocked without any notice or request from his side. When he approached their branch in Vizag, he got a rude shock when he was informed that the number was ported to some other network and allotted to someone else.

The complainant wrote a letter to the Panjagutta branch demanding that his number be allotted back to him again and also sought the reason for the misunderstanding. The complainant had a hard time shuffling between offices as he was made to go to the head office at Begumpet several times. He was told by the authorities that his number was ported to IDEA cellular network and they would get in contact with officials for the number to be allotted back to him. But despite the apology, the number remained blocked for more than a month.

Telenor Communications contended that the mobile number which was originally blocked was being used by the complainant’s brother and not him. Therefore, it was evident that the complainant had approached the forum for wrongful gains.

They stated, “Considering the fact that complainant though being the registered subscriber but not being the actual user of services provided by the opposite party has no locus standi to file this complaint.” 

They also denied that the complainant visited their branch in Vizag and said that he had not submitted a timely complaint on that day itself. They reportedly asked the complainant to visit their branch and submit his ID proof. However, the complainant refused and demanded a compensation due to his alleged business loss. They claimed that the number was blocked on November 2, but the complaint registered a complaint only on December 15.

The Forum observed that the complainant’s business deals for two months had suffered costing him a large amount of money. The forum also stated that it was informed that the mobile number was also being used by his brother. The company was reprimanded by the forum which told them that they had neither proved misuse of mobile of the complainant nor provided any technical reason for blocking the mobile.

The forum ruled in favour of the complainant and ordered Telenor to replace the sim without demanding the ID proof of the complainant and to pay a compensation of '10,000 along with another '2,500 towards costs.