Trai to Test 'Improvements' in Call Drop Problem Next Month

Telecom regulator Trai will test the improvement in call drops of various operators in select cities next month, its chairman RS Sharma said Thursday.

"We will be testing in a number of cities to see the improvement in call drops next month," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) chief told reporters on the sidelines of Infocom seminar in Kolkata.

He said Trai had already issued regulations so that customers are compensated for up to three dropped calls per day at Re. 1 per call.

The compensation would start from January 2016. Sharma said Trai has kept the regulations simple and the compensation would take place at the originating network.

"Trai has to keep in mind the interest of all the stakeholders," he said.

However, operators are still unclear on how to compensate the customers, whether by providing extra talk-time or by some other means.

He said call drops were taking place due to non-optimisation of networks. Trai had done both detailed diagnostic and technical studies on call drops, he added.

In the meanwhile, asserting that he does not want to be known as 'call drop minister', Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad earlier this week said operators must reinforce their networks to improve quality of services.

He also said the implementation was being monitored of the investment commitments made by telecom operators for upgrading networks, as he reminded Bharti Airtel about Rs. 80,000 crores investment announced by the company in July.

Taking a jibe at telecom operators, the minister said it took a lot of nudging on his part to let them publicly accept that quality of services was not up to the mark and needs improvement.