Call drops in India higher than global average: Survey

Only 4% calls are dropped in poor coverage areas, rest 59.1% due to poor quality and 36.9% due to network faults

Much higher than 2% acceptable call drops as prescribed by regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the average rate in India stands at 4.73% as against the global standard of 3%, says a report.

"Most call drops occur due to interference and other quality related issues. While lack of spectrum and high user concentration may be to blame for some of these problems, network optimisation can result in a significant reduction in call drop problems," the survey said.

As per a survey conducted by RedMango Analytics across 20 cities including Mumbai, Kolkata, Bengaluru and Jammu, only 4% calls are dropped in poor coverage areas.

The rest 59.1% call drops take place due to poor quality and 36.9% due to network faults.

Poor quality can be defined as high amount of interference in the radio signal from the mobile phone to the tower and vice versa that causes calls to drop.

The survey said average call drop rate in the country is 4.73% as against the Trai benchmark of 2%.

"The call drop rates in India supersede the globally accepted standard of 3 per cent. The country at present is experiencing around 4.73% call drops. Moreover, the current call drop rates in India, contradict the acceptable rate of 2%, as prescribed by the TRAI," Umang Shah, co-founder and head (Innovation and Marketing) RedMango Analytics said.

The survey said interference can be caused due to signal noise from neighbouring towers, inefficient use of spectrum and high congestion due to lack of spectrum.

However, it added one of the major reason contributing to the call drops is low range smartphones.