Call drops: TRAI to float paper on quality of service by cellular operators

On the heels of proposing compensation to consumers for call drops, sectoral regulator TRAI will soon come out with another paper enabling them to track regularly the network quality of mobile operators.

The move will help customers to determine which player is providing better services in an area which will help them in choosing an operator.

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Chairman RS Sharma said, ideally customers should know quality of service provided by each base tower station (BTS) but the feasibility for that needs to be checked.

"Ideally we should have BTS wise QoS (Quality of Service) but I don't know feasibility of that as of now," Sharma told PTI in an interview.

At present, TRAI comes out with status of service at state or telecom circle level.

The regulator will come out with a position paper in this regard in a couple of weeks, Sharma said.

TRAI is considering making it mandatory for telecom operators to disclose their network capacities periodically, as the regulator feels that call drop problem needs to be examined in entirety.

"We are going to establish institutional mechanism which will basically on continuous basis provide a dashboard for citizen of this country to see status of QoS in a area. We will collect data from operators. It will be put on a map and show you status of QoS in your area," he said.

The Chairman said the data will not be live but it would be very latest.

He added many things get disguised under the current 2 per cent benchmark for call drops. The drop rate may be 25 per cent at certain places and somewhere it will be nil, but averages hide many things.

"We are doing data analytics of high granularity to bring out where problem is high and we will also come up with reason. Be it overload, lack of tower, we will come out with reason in a position paper. It will come in couple of weeks," Sharma said.

Sharma added granularity in terms of categorisation of problem, granularity also in geographical terms so that this problem is below 2 per cent.

The regulator has already proposed a compensation mechanism for call drops and is seeking comments from stakeholders if it should be in the form of free calls or financial incentive.

"I am preparing detailed parameters. Whether the call went or not, call dropped before it began...All those statistics will come out," he said.

The problem of call drops has become more acute in the last 3-4 months. Prime Minister Narendra Modi too last week voiced serious concerns over the menace and asked officials concerned to take urgent steps to address it.

A recent TRAI report found that most of the telecom operators in Delhi and Mumbai were not meeting the prescribed standards regarding call drops.