DoT Secretary to discus call drop, policy reforms with CEOs

Department of Telecom has also decided to take up one pending policy measure every month

Telecom Secretary J S Deepak will deliberate on the problem of call drop, investments in the sector and ongoing policy reforms with CEOs of service providers on June 10.

"There will be a number of issues that will be discussed at the meeting on Friday. It will include call drop, investments, policy reforms and overall status of telecom sector," Deepak told reporters on the sidelines of India Satcom on Tuesday.

Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad has asked the Department of Telecom to look into radio-link timeout technology allegedly used by mobile operators, along with Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

The latest test drive conducted in Delhi by the Trai found Aircel and Vodafone to be using RLT beyond the levels their peers follow. RLT is one of the parameters which decides for how long the call should be sustained if the signal quality drops below a certain threshold.

According to an official source, some telecom operators are using it for masking call drops, resulting in higher bills for subscribers.

Besides this, telecom sector is gearing up for one of biggest spectrum auctions of all time in which airwaves worth at least Rs 5.66 crore will be put up for sale. Industry has requested the government to defer auction of 700 Mhz frequency band which alone accounts for about Rs 4 lakh crore.

The DoT has also decided to take up one pending policy measure every month.

The Department is presently working to frame guidelines to roll out telecom infrastructure across the country to ease hurdles that industry face.

The proposed Right of Way guidelines, if finalised, will help expeditious roll-out of telecom infrastructure as well as improve quality of service, reduce call drop and cost of setting up networks.