'Call drops not due to capacity constraints'

Call drops happen not because of the overall capacity constraints, according to the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). The reasons are the operators' inability to deploy sites in key and critical areas and shortage of spectrum, COAI said in a letter to telecom secretary Rakesh Garg.

The department of telecommunications had recently asked Trai to nudge operators to disclose information on their infrastructure versus capacity. Referring to this, COAI director-general Rajan Mathews said, "The proposed action will potentially change market structure and favour specific operators, which is not appropriate."

Each site's mobile network capacity is planned on the basis of estimated traffic in the covered areas. The customer usage pattern in terms of location and time of use is not static; it depends on the time of the day, day of the week, and mix between 2G and 3G traffic, among other things, the letter said.

The continuous demand for additional spectrum by telecom operators only vindicates the government's belief that the ratio of service infrastructure to consumer is unmanageable, according to officials in the DoT.

The call drops issue has worsened in the past few months and the DoT has been holding regular meetings with telecom operators to address the issue.