Trai puts quality of service for 5G network slicing under scrutiny

Draft norms mandate 21-day prior notice for new network slices, each with separate service quality standards

India’s telecommunications (telecom) regulator on Wednesday proposed that telecom companies planning to create a new 5G network slice will have to submit details of the proposed and existing network slice parameters at least 21 days in advance. In cases where more than one 5G slice is offered, each will be treated as a separate tariff offering and will have its own quality of service (QoS) parameters, the regulator said while proposing amendments to the QoS norms issued in 2024.

 

Seeking comments from the industry by August 26, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) draft amendments to the QoS standards for wireless and broadband services bring into focus the latest technology being adopted by carriers globally. In India, Bharti Airtel recently introduced the technology through its Fast Lane offering for postpaid users.

 

Trai’s rationale is that service providers should ensure sufficient network capacity is available before launching any slice so that other services do not suffer a decline in quality. “While network slicing supports new use cases for different business models, it is driven by efficient utilisation of network resources with their efficient dynamic allocation among different slices. Since all network slices operate within the overall capacity supported by a cell, it is important to monitor availability of resources so that allocation of resources to one or more slices, especially during periods of high network traffic, is not to the detriment of the QoS of slice(s) with relatively lower QoS performance requirement,” the regulator said in an explanatory note accompanying the proposed draft amendments.

 

The regulator has proposed allocating a portion of spectrum, or physical resource block, on 4G and 5G networks, with utilisation capped at 80 per cent during network slicing.

 

The draft rules also propose allowing telecom operators to charge different rates for 4G, 5G, and other services they offer. At present, carriers do not differentiate between 4G and 5G tariffs, although tariff differences exist between wireless and wired broadband services. Trai has added a condition that tariffs for a particular service should specify measurable download and upload speeds. A tariff will be deemed non-compliant if 80 per cent of the tested download speed is lower than the speed advertised by the operator.

 

Under the proposed rules, if customers fail to receive the promised download speeds, service providers will have to notify the affected customers and take corrective action before submitting their next compliance reports to the regulator.

 

The telecom regulator has also proposed penalties of ₹2 lakh per benchmark for submitting false QoS reports and ₹5 lakh for each instance of non-compliance or other violations. Repeated violations could attract penalties of up to ₹10 lakh for each benchmark and each instance.

 

Trai has also proposed rent rebates for postpaid subscribers and validity extensions for prepaid users in the event of major network outages lasting more than 24 hours.