Vodafone subscribers, mainly from Delhi circles were reporting call drop issues for past few days. The company reports the issue to be that of frequency change and promised it to be resolved at the earliest.
“The issue mainly concerns the Delhi service area, not entire India. The reason for this problem is frequency change. Last November, our license for 20 years expired and our frequency got changed,” Vodafone Managing Director and Chief Executive Officer said.
The issue even captured the attention of Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, who called the operators to discuss the issue. TRAI’s performance monitoring report for the tenure of December 2014 too pointed out Vodafone’s failure in meeting the benchmarks for quality call in Delhi.
“We have to change the tyres of a punctured car while the car is running. I can’t stop my network, close it down and change the frequency. I am trying to change the frequency while the network is running, at the same time the network is expanding in 3G and other areas…so that is a task,” Sood elucidated.
Meanwhile, Vodafone also decided not to launch any zero-rating plans similar to that of Airtel. It said it will wait for the regulatory norms to take shape before leaping into any actions. "We are waiting for the rules," Sunil Sood commented.
Vodafone also said that it is a net neutrality supporter and do not believe in ‘throttling’ or ‘blocking’ internet. Sood sees the criticisms on Airtel for launching Zero as ‘trivial’ and calls it just a price plan, reported Economic Times (ET). "I believe it's a trivial matter. It was just a price plan,” he said.
However, Sood expects the Government to bring OTT services like Whatsapp, Viber and Skype under regulations like that of telecom operators. "We are subjected to various regulations as part of the license conditions, including interceptions. If there are rules, they should apply to all. They cannot be partial,” he reportedly said ET.
