Indian telecom companies have urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), to continue with current practice of using network statistics to calculate call drop rates, rejecting the sector regulator’s suggestion of calculating call drop rates through a meta data analysis of call detail records (CDRs), according to an Economic Times report.
In their submission to Trai on discussion paper floated in August on reviewing quality of network-related services, the telcos through industry bodies- COAI and AUSPI— said that meta data analysis of call detail records is designed purely for billing purpose and cannot be used for measuring quality of service.
The report said that “any analysis of CDRs would present a flawed picture” as abnormal call terminations/disconnects can be triggered by handsets getting switched off inadvertently, battery draining out or a customer moving to an underground metro station or a building.
The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) represents India’s biggest phone companies such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Idea Cellular and Reliance Jio Infocomm among others. The Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (Auspi), on the other hand, represents Reliance Communications, Tata Teleservices and Sistema Shyam Teleservices (MTS India)
Through its discussion paper on reviewing quality of network-related services, the Trai had sought industry feedback on the appropriateness of computing call drop rates through meta data analysis of CDRs.
According to the publication, the Indian telecom operators have also suggested that call drop rates be calculated at the service area and not base station level. They said that service area parameter is a true representative of a fully-loaded mobile network’s performance when there is maximum traffic.
Also read: Telecom regulator Trai to inspect Reliance Jio’s network for call drops
Both COAI and Auspi have also dismissed Trai’s suggestions of creating a customer satisfaction index for improving user experience or the need for graded financial disincentives, ET report added.
