DoT to open call centers

The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has decided to

open "CALL CENTRES" for different organizations to facilitate their services to

the public.

Particularly attractive to industries such as tourism,

banking, financial services, hotel chains, etc, Call Centers are established by various

organizations at some convenient place for providing help to their customers. In order to

access a Call Center of a particular organization, a customer has to make a single local

telephone call though the service required may be at a distant far place.

Initially, DoT decided to set up its own Call Centres at

Jammu, Chandigarh, Shimla, Ambala, Jaipur, Dehradun, Lucknow, Patna, Calcutta,

Guwahati, Shillong, Bhubaneshewar, Bhopal, Hyderabad, Chennai, Bangalore,

Trivandrum, Pune, and Port

Blair. These will cater to services like Information on New Telephone Connections, Billing

for existing subscriber, status of faulty lines and shift applications etc. DoT will also

set up Call Centers for other ministries and departments. They will have to register their

requirements with the Customer Services Branch of the DoT, Telecom Commission Headquarters

at Sanchar Bhavan.

Permitted on non-exclusive basis, these Call Centers will

be of two types: International and Domestic. In case of International Call Centers, the

Public Switched Telephone Network (PSTN) connectivity is permissible only at the foreign

end and not at the Indian end. However, the Domestic Call Centers are permitted to have

inbound PSTN traffic with the outgoing barred. No inter connectivity of the International

and Domestic Call Centers shall be permitted. However, interconnectivity of two domestic

Call Centers of the same organizations is permissible subject to further approval from

DoT.