The government is taking proactive steps to ensure that the menace of call drops is remedied at the earliest. Prime minister Narendra Modi has expressed concern over the growing rate of call drops in India.
DOT has instructed TRAI to collect data from telecom service providers regarding the statistics of call drops faced by subscribers on their network and steps taken by the operators to compensate the subscribers for the same. TRAI has sent out letters to the operators demanding information and data on the subject.
A copy of the letter was seen by TelecomTalk which read:
Sir/Madam
As you are aware, call drops' complaints are on the rise, which is a cause of serious concern for the authority. At the same time it has come to the notice of the authority that a few service providers are voluntarily/on demand compensating their subscribers for 'local' call drops, to ameliorate the agony and anxiety of the subscribers.
In view of above, the authority would like to know whether any such benefit, in the form of refund, rebate, concession or compensatory talk time etc. is being extended by your company to the subscribers in case of call drop during local calls, STD calls and calls made while roaming. Kindly also provide complete details of the scheme/offer/policy of the company and the number of subscribers to whom such compensation has been offered and the total amount of compensation offered in the last two years and the current year (LSA wise)
The TRAI will soon ask telecom companies to disclose information related to their services which would be publicised so that customers are aware of capacity of their operator and enable them to choose their service provider.
"It is a national concern. While I appreciate the role of telecom operators in the expansion of mobile network in India, it is equally important for them to reinforce the infrastructure so that people may not have the call drop problems," Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Tuesday.
Currently no operator displays the number of towers and information about their physical location or 2G/3G/4G realtime coverage maps on their official website. With the mandatory disclosure to TRAI and the publishing of that information by TRAI will act as a reference for the current and new subscribers about the expected quality of service from an operator.
