Telecom firms must ensure better service: Prasad

Communications Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Monday asked the telecom service providers to improve infrastructure, stressing that giving good quality services is their responsibility.

"They should also keep in mind and ensure their services should be good. Just being a big operator is not necessary, the services should also be good," he said on sidelines of a workshop at the State Administrative Training Institute.

Earlier in the day, the Delhi High Court sought a response from the central government and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on a plea by telecom operators for a stay on TRAI's compensation policy for call drops, under which a rupee will be credited to the mobile users' account for every call drop (restricted to three per day) starting January 2016.

A division bench of Chief Justice G. Rohini and Justice Jayant Nath asked the government and TRAI to file their response by December 22 on the plea of two telecom industry bodies, Cellular Operators Association of India and Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India.

The issue of call drops have surfaced repeatedly in the recent past.

Prasad during the conference said internet use during current year has gone up by 49 percent in the country, and in rural India, it registered a phenomenal growth. The eight metros together showed a growth of 31 percent during this year, while the number of mobile internet users in rural India is expected to reach 87 million by the end of this month.

He said the Digital India initiative is a process aimed at promoting inclusiveness through digitalization and thus not dependent on any single programme or city.