Airtel, Hutch fail Trai's test on service quality

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today said test drives in Mumbai had revealed that the quality of services offered by private mobile operators such as Airtel, Hutch and BPL were poor on account of less number of cell sites.

"The quality of service of the networks of Airtel, Hutch and BPL are not as per the prescribed standards in respect of the coverage, interface and call drops at several locations," the regulator said in a statement.

All the service providers, in common, have coverage problems in several locations as these are currently being covered remotely by sites from the neighbouring locations. Due to coverage from remote base stations, the signal strength in these areas is barely sufficient to mature a call, the regulator said.

The report has also pointed out that attempts made by the service providers to put the requisite cell sites in these areas by approaching the concerned government departments, defence and civil authorities had not been fruitful.

Additionally, the regulator has also added that GSM service providers in Mumbai Metro have already crossed the benchmark for allocation of additional spectrum, and added that additional allocation would have to be considered by the authorities.