The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Regional Office, Kolkata today successfully organized a Consumer Outreach Programme at Sikkim Government College, Namchi, Sikkim, to educate the public about various initiatives taken by TRAI to safeguard consumer interests.

One of the important objectives of TRAI is to safeguard consumer interests and create consumer awareness. Towards this objective, TRAI organizes consumer outreach programmes (COP), workshops on capacity building of consumer organisations, and seminars on issues of consumer interests and protection.

The programme was attended by the public, telecom service providers, and consumer organizations. Shri Deepak Mukherjee, Special Director General (T), Department of Telecommunications (DoT), West Bengal LSA, was the chief guest of the event. Other special guests included Shri Deewan Rai, Vice-Principal, Sikkim Government College, Namchi, and Ms. Zarmit Lepcha, Cyber Forensic Scientist, Sikkim Police.

Shri Ashim Dutta, IRRS, Joint Advisor, TRAI Regional Office, Kolkata, delivered the welcome address and briefed the audience about the legislative and regulatory framework of telecom and broadcasting services in India, the role and functions of TRAI, and the objective and purpose of the Consumer Outreach Programme.

Shri Deepak Mukherjee highlighted the importance of good broadband connectivity in every nook and corner of the country. He also discussed the connectivity status in Sikkim and various initiatives of the DoT, such as the 4G saturation project, Sanchar Saathi, and Sanchar Mitra.

Shri Deewan Rai, VP, Sikkim Government College, appreciated TRAI for the initiative and highlighted the requirement of good network connectivity in educational institutes like Sikkim Government College. He requested TRAI to ensure good network connectivity in the college premises.

During the programme, Shri Nilay Dutta, Senior Research Officer, TRAI Regional Office, Kolkata, educated the participants about various consumer-centric regulations, directions, and orders relating to Value Added Services, Unsolicited Commercial Communications, Mobile Number Portability, Complaint Redressal Mechanism, Data Services, Broadcasting Regulations, and Tariff.

The participants were also informed about the benefits of various mobile apps developed by TRAI, such as TRAI MySpeed, TRAI DND 3.0, Channel Selector, and TRAI MyCall, as well as the Tariff Portal and Network Coverage Maps. They were also briefed on various recommendations made by TRAI to facilitate the growth of telecommunications.

Additionally, they were briefed about TRAI's new regulations/directions on Unsolicited Commercial Communications (UCC) and how they should be extra careful about different telecom frauds, such as tower fraud, fraudulent messages/calls, etc.

A presentation was also given by DoT/T TRAI on various citizen-centric digital applications developed by the DoT, such as CEIR, TAFCOPS, etc., which are part of the Sancharsaathi initiative (https://sancharsaathi.gov.in/).

Ms. Zarmit Lepcha delivered a presentation on Cyber Frauds and Preventive/Remedial measures. The programme concluded with a lively interactive session, where participants' queries related to various aspects of telecom services were responded to by the TRAI team and telecom service providers.

The vote of thanks was presented by Shri Nilay Dutta, Senior Research Officer, TRAI.

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Source: TRAI, RO, Kolkata

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