While India targets global leadership in 5G, the ground-level after-sales experience for millions of subscribers is lagging. According to a recent survey by LocalCircles, nearly 1 in 2 mobile subscribers (47%) who filed a grievance in the last three years reported that their issues remain mostly or entirely unresolved.

Vodafone Idea (Vi) has emerged as the operator with the highest percentage of consumers reporting unresolved complaints, followed by Bharti Airtel. In contrast, Reliance Jio and the state-run BSNL were found to be performing relatively better in addressing consumer grievances.

Out of 13,310 respondents asked to identify providers with pending unresolved complaints (filed more than a week ago), 62% named Vi, 49% named Airtel, 37% named Jio, and 25% named BSNL.

Disconnect in ‘quality of service’

The survey highlights a significant friction point in the redressal process. Approximately 23% of subscribers found filing a complaint with their service provider to be ‘cumbersome’, while 12% admitted they had many complaints but chose never to file them because they perceived the process as too difficult.

The primary pain points driving these grievances include:

• Network coverage (65%): Remained the top concern for a vast majority of users

TRAI findings vs. consumer reality

In December 2025, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti stated that major carriers—Jio, Airtel, and Vi—are "largely complying" with the latest quality of service (QoS) norms. He noted that the regulator is monitoring performance through regular audits and a multi-pronged approach under a framework that was further tightened in October 2024.

However, the chairman did acknowledge some deterioration in service quality during monsoon months due to fibre damage and power breakdowns.

The contrast between TRAI’s compliance reports and the LocalCircles consumer survey suggests that while operators may meet technical regulatory benchmarks, the actual resolution of consumer issues remains a hurdle. For players like BSNL and Jio, outperforming the competition in grievance redressal could become a key differentiator in a market where network coverage and data speeds are increasingly reaching parity. Ultimately, the next phase of the telecom war may not be won on 5G rollout speeds, but on who provides the most seamless after-sale support.