Recently unveiled data by the Telecom Authority of India (TRAI) shows that Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone receive the most number of consumer complaints.

Maximum number of complaints regarding poor service and call drops were received against Bharti Airtel, Reliance Communications and Vodafone in the last three years and this data shows that this trend is continuing.

Nearly one-third of the complaints received in the first half of 2016 were against Bharti Airtel.

The regulator received 9,720 complaints for poor service till June 30 2016, out of which 3,257 were against Airtel, 1,526 against Reliance Communications, 2,120 against Vodafone and 997 against Idea cellular. Complaints against other telecom operators were below 500.

Last year, TRAI received 6,131 complaints against Airtel,, 3,527 against Reliance Communications, 5,387 against Vodafone, 2,594 against Idea Cellular, 1,465 against Tata Teleservices and 1,444 against BSNL. Complaints against other telecom operators in 2015 too were less than 500.

What must be kept in mind while analysing this data is the fact that Airtel and Vodafone, who have the most complaints also have the highest user base in the country.

The complaint mechanism against telecom operators is not seen effective as the complaints registered before TRAI , DoT or any other authority finally lands at the door of the telecom operator for resolution — which is one of the parties in dispute with customers.