Trai app to check internet speed offered by telcos

Continuing its efforts to improve quality of services, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will next month launch a mobile app that will measure the speed of internet on mobile phones automatically and pass on the data to a portal, where people can see how operators are performing in terms of speed. The app, which will be available on Android and iOS platforms, will work automatically in the background. It will send the information to its server throughout the day.

The idea behind is that customers should know about the experience of different networks to select the best operator in their locality. According to a Trai official, the app is a kind of crowd sourcing initiative to check network performance of all mobile operators. Bharti Airtel has already launched an initiative called open network, where customers can see various parameters of the network. However, other operators do not have such a service.

Trai Secretary Sudhir Gupta last week held a meeting with representatives of mobile operators and gave a demonstration of the app.

The meeting was earlier scheduled to take place between Trai Chairman R S Sharma and chief executives of telecom firms.

However, as most of the top bosses expressed their inability to attend, Gupta held the meeting with officials of telecom companies.

This is not the first time Trai will be coming out with a mobile app. Earlier this month, the regulator launched an app for telecom subscribers to register complaints against pesky calls and SMSes.