Call drops: Prasad asks telcos to shape up, or face action

In a stern warning to telecom operators on the call drop issue, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Sunday said it's not his "job to find towers" and the companies must improve their networks, or face serious action.

"Telcos must improve networks, it's not my job to find towers... If they don't, consequences will be serious," Prasad told CNN-IBN during an interview.

Telecom operators have been blaming the call drops on lack of sufficient mobile towers.

As a way out, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has come out with a compensation policy, mandating that telecom companies from January 1 should compensate users at the rate of Rs 1 per dropped call, with a ceiling of three such calls a day, which works out to Rs 3 a day.

The minister was unambiguously clear. "Telcos can't concentrate on data at the cost of voice calls," he said.

The state-owned BSNL is already on track to recovery as its customer base is rising steadily, the minister added, hoping that another state-run entity, MTNL too would turn around. He made it clear that the priority of the government is to improve the health of MTNL, and not to privatise it.

Acknowledging "the great role" post offices are playing in digital financial inclusion, Prasad said they are being encouraged to get into the booming e-commerce sector.

Asserting that he does not want to be known as a 'call drop minister', Prasad had earlier said operators must reinforce their networks to improve quality of services.

He had also said the implementation of the investment commitments made by telecom players to upgrade networks is being monitored.