More than one crore fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected with the help of Sanchar Saathi, the Ministry of Communications said, noting that the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) are taking collaborative steps to enhance the user experience for telecom service users. In a statement on Tuesday, the Ministry also highlighted that benchmarks for key parameters such as network availability, call drop rates, and packet drop rates will be gradually tightened.
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Measures to Combat Spam Calls
To curb the menace of spam calls, TRAI has directed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities using bulk connections for spam calls, including robocalls and pre-recorded calls. In the last fortnight, over 3.5 lakh such numbers have been disconnected, and 50 entities have been blacklisted.
Additionally, around 3.5 lakh unused/unverified SMS headers and 12 lakh content templates have been blocked, according to the official release. With the help of Sanchar Saathi, around 2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime and financial fraud.
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Network Performance Benchmarks
To improve network performance, the Ministry of Communications said benchmarks for key network parameters will be gradually tightened. In this regard, TRAI has released its revised regulations, "The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024 (06 of 2024)."
These regulations will come into effect on October 1, 2024, and from April 1, 2025, monthly monitoring of QoS performance for mobile services will begin instead of the current quarterly basis.
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QoS benchmark Paramaters
QoS benchmarks for several important parameters, such as Cumulative Down Time, Worst Affected Cells due to Down Time, Drop Call Rate (DCR) for 2G and 3G, Drop Call Rate (DCR) for 4G and 5G (Packet Switched), Downlink Packet Drop (DLPD), Uplink Packet Drop (UPPD), Latency (4G and 5G Network), and Packet Drop Rate (in 4G and 5G Network), will be revised in phases, with changes coming into effect in 2024, 2025, 2026, and 2027.
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TRAI Consultation papers
The Ministry of Communications also emphasised that TRAI has issued consultation papers on provisions for the immediate suspension of services for unregistered telemarketers upon receipt of complaints exceeding a pre-defined threshold number, and on the implementation of proactive detection and action against suspected spammers.
