Telcos ask DoT for mechanism to control mobile handset quality

The COAI has flagged the issue of mobile device quality impacting data throughput and call drops, and asked the government to work out a "proper mechanism" to control the quality of handsets in the country.
The cellular operators' body has claimed that there has been a "massive influx of untested and uncertified smartphones (more than 10,000 models in India) due to design variations introduced by the device manufacturers".
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) contended that the onus of call drops and service quality has been attributed squarely to operators in the recent past, but "the role of devices in issue of service quality and call drops has not been considered adequately".

It has sought an "urgent policy intervention", drawing attention of the Telecom Department to degradation in data in case of dual SIM LTE mobile devices.
"...It is of paramount importance that a proper mechanism to address and control the quality of mobile devices in India is devised. In absence of such a regime, the impact on network quality could blow out of proportion, especially with the influx of more affordable devices in the market and the creation of new device ecosystem with Internet of Things," the association said.
COAI has shot off a letter to Telecom Commission Chairman claiming that tests conducted on some dual SIM 4G handsets revealed that placing a SIM, which has only 4G-LTE capability, in the second slot (meant for 2G only) significantly deteriorated the throughput of any other operator's 4G SIM present in the main slot, by up to 40 per cent.

"The analysis so far points to a chipset specific implementation by MediaTek. All the device models that have the MediaTek chipsets are likely to have this issue. It is estimated that MediaTek chipsets are present in more than 35 per cent of the smartphones in the country," COAI alleged.

Responding to the charges, a MediaTek India representative said that the company "recently became aware of these reports and it is of the utmost priority to address".
"While MediaTek's solutions are globally compliant and fully adhere to all global standard bodies-defined guidelines, we are already working closely with all the telecom operators to ensure any reported issues are resolved...The Indian mobile market is a key focus and of great importance for MediaTek," the company representative said in a statement.

The letter by COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews has further urged the Telecom Department to mandate that original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) of mobile devices should fix the issue using an 'over the air' upgrade in the next four weeks, and in the case of non-compliance, such devices should be taken off the market.
"The sale of any mobile device that has been found to be adversely impacting the data throughput should be banned," COAI suggested, adding that policy norms should be issued for enforcing the device and network standards such as minimum processor and memory requirements.