Call drop a black spot in Indian telecom story: Telecom Minister

The telecom story in India, generally speaking, has been a "success story" the vexed issue of "call drop" has hit it like a black spot, new Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told parliament on Wednesday

Replying to supplementary questions from members during question hour in Lok Sabha, Sinha, who was recently given independent charge of the crucial ministry, however asserted that the "black spot will be removed certainly".

"Telecom story in our country has been a success story. But there is a black spot. We will certainly remove this," he said, adding that in the next 3-4 months, there will be positive results on this front.

Stating that he has already held a detailed meeting with telecom operators, he said, "with the progress made in last 45 days, it is apparent that the operators have kept their words. They will have to keep the words even in future also".

"I want to assure you all that consumer will be satisfied. Then only we can say the government is working, the department is working," he said.

He said necessary instructions have been given to telecom operators to improve the situation on call drops issue.

Sinha further said the telecom operators will invest around Rs 20,000 crore to improve their infrastructure and install one lakh base transceiver station to offer better services to customers.

Raising supplementary queries, Congress' Sushmita Dev expressed concern on the menace of call drop.

"In the month of October 2015, the TRAI had passed a regulation to impose a fine or a penalty on telecom companies for call drops up to Re.1 to a maximum of three call drops in a day. But that has been struck down by the Supreme Court saying that the TRAI does not have the power to impose penalties," she said.

She was supported by her party colleague Jyotiraditya Scindia, who said a recent study revealed that the operators have limitations in providing services in states like Madhya Pradesh, Jharkhand, Delhi and Rajasthan.

--IANS

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