Trai to Conduct Another Test Drive to Assess Telecom Service Quality

Aiming to end the call drop menace, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) will conduct another test drive to measure the quality of telecom services in the next two weeks, its chairman R.S. Sharma said in New Delhi on Wednesday.

"Almost all the telecom operators failed the quality of service drive test," the sector regulator chief told reporters after holding a meeting with the bigwigs of telecom companies earlier in the day.

He mentioned that the operators were appraised of the quality of services.

Asked about the shutting down of telecom towers in various parts of the country due to fear of radiation, he said: "We will work with the government and municipal bodies to make people understand these fears are misplaced."

Separately on Wednesday, the cabinet approved spectrum trading guidelines under which telecom operators will be able to sell radiowaves to other service providers, a move that will help address the problem of spectrum shortage.

As of now only the government is allowed to allocate spectrum to telecom firms through auctions. The decision move is expected to increase efficient use of radiowaves by enabling telecom operators, who have a low subscriber base or unutilised spectrum lying with them, to trade in radiowaves.

For entering in trading agreement, telecom operators will not require prior permission from government but the company will have to inform licence issuing authority 45 days before entering into trading agreement. The seller and buyer entering into trading agreement will have to give an undertaking that their pact is in compliance to all rules and regulations.

Written with agency inputs