TRAI warns mobile operators on call drops

The issue of frequent call drops has become severe in the recent months and concern has been raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well.

Seeking urgent steps by mobile operators to check call drops, regulator TRAI on Wednesday said their performance would be reviewed after 15 days and warned it will "cross the bridge" if they fail to do the needful.

Separately, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad also said that the government is presently not thinking of imposing any penalty, but that option cannot be ruled out if the situation does not improve.

The issue of frequent call drops has become severe in the recent months and concern has been raised by Prime Minister Narendra Modi as well.

After meeting the CEOs of telecom operators on this issue, TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said he informed the companies that the situation would be reviewed after 15 days, even as they have been assured support in dispelling the fears regarding radiation from mobile towers.

"I have told them after 15 days we will have another test drive in the city of Mumbai and Delhi and we will also have data relating to other places. So we will measure if there is any improvement in the situation or not," he said.

The industry leaders present in the meeting included Bharti Airtel's Gopal Vittal, Gurdeep Singh of Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular's Himanshu Kapania, among others.

On the issue of radiation fears, Sharma said the regulator will work with the concerned authorities and help spread the message that fear of radiation from tower causing health hazards like cancer is completely misplaced.

"One issue where we offered our support is relating to towers dismantled by the RWAs and municipal corporations. We assured them we will bring out the study which we have conducted. We will work with them and the Minister has already offered that towers can be put up on government buildings," Sharma said.

Asked if penal measures will be taken if the operators did not show improvement in their networks, Sharma said the TRAI will cross the bridge if required.

"We will cross the bridge when we need, but I don't have any reason to disbelieve the operators (as yet). They are saying that they are making serious efforts to improve the situation, so why should I presume that situation will not improve," Sharma said.

Sharma said the basic issue raised during the meeting is that call drop is a serious problem and it needs to addressed. "We apprised them of the test drive results and it is very clear from those results that except one or two operators, everybody was falling short of prescribed standards of call drops and other service quality related parameters," Sharma said.

Meanwhile at the Economist India Summit, the Telecom Minister said, "Presently I am not thinking of any kind penalty imposition, but I don't rule out the option if the situation doesn't improve."

"Naturally, if there is an issue it needs to be addressed by those who are in the game," Prasad said.

The Minister said the government is continuously doing whatever is required at the its end and the operators should also to do their bit.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has proposed that service providers should compensate mobile subscribers for call drops and poor quality of services.

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

Listing out the steps taken by the government on policy matters, Prasad said, "We first cleared the spectrum sharing decision, now we have cleared the spectrum trading also. So, whatever are the demands of telecom operators for growth, we have done that."

Prasad said telecom operators need to offer good service to get help from the government. He said companies invest in India because there are one billion customers and if they want government support, they have to serve the customers first.

He urged the operators to invest in voice network and not in the data alone. Regarding the BharatNet project, Prasad said 18 states have come forward to form special purpose vehicle for broadband network.