Calling BSNL: Cell lines jammed

Cellular networks in 86 cities find it difficult to connect to BSNL phones.

The sharp increase in cellular network has led to a problem of network congestion. An assessment by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has found that in 86 cities, congestion levels between the cellular networks of private operators and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd are 20 times more than the benchmarks prescribed by it.

"Our monitoring has revealed that in a number of areas, the degree of congestion among the operators is alarming. The congestion is largely between private operators and BSNL," the regulator has said in a report.

According to the report, Hutchison has interconnection congestion with BSNL in 12 cities, Reliance Telecom with BSNL in 25 cities, Reliance Infocomm in 15 cities, Idea Cellular in 29, Bharti in 45 and subscribers of Spice Communications face this problem in 11 cities.

The interconnect congestion is caused due to non-availability of an adequate number of junctions among the operators and can result in frequent call drops.

Trai has expressed concern that despite having discussed the issue with private operators and BSNL for over a year, "the situation has shown no perceivable improvement". Trai officials pointed out that it had no powers to intervene in the issue, and operators were not bound by any regulatory compulsion to solve the problem.

Private operators accuse BSNL of delaying the provision of necessary ports to allow their customers to connect seamlessly with the network. "Over 2,000 interconnect requests of private operators are pending with BSNL," a private operator said.

They have approached the government demanding that points of interconnection be made available within seven days of the operators request.

While private operators and BSNL have points of interconnect congestion in around 140 cities, the corresponding figure among the networks of private operators is less than 10.

BSNL executives say that the state-owned company is unable to fulfil the demands due to shortage of capacity and high costs in rural areas.

According to department of telecommunication officials, the government is examining the possibility of setting up a rural gateway exchange for interconnection with support from the universal service obligation fund.

The department has also mandated that private operators and BSNL executives meet once a month to take stock of the progress on interconnection.

TRAFFIC JAM
Private cellular players have interconnection congestion with BSNL in 86 cities

Hutchison in 12 cities
Reliance Telecom in 25 cities
Reliance Infocomm in 15 cities
Idea Cellular in 29 cities
Bharti in 45 cities
Spice Communications in 11 cities