Call drop rate comes down by 8%
The Call drop rate comes down by 8% in the previous one year, ” Communications Minister Manoj Sinhastated in New Delhi on Friday, adding that the authorities aimed to make it down further by the year-end.
After a review meeting with telecom operators, the ministry told reporters that the speed had come down by 8 per cent since the previous review meeting held a year ago. Sinha also said that there was “substantial improvement” in customer satisfaction too.
All significant telecom firms were present in the meeting, such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance Jio, Idea Cellular, Telenor, BSNL and Reliance Communications.
The Union said that the telecom firms had met the goal of setting up 60,000 mobile websites or BTS with an investment of Rs. 12,000 crores in 100 days.
The Indian telecom watchdog on August 18 announced stricter rules regarding call drops and said telecom operators who did not meet the norms could be fined at least Rs. 5 lakhs.
“Graded financial disincentives if service providers don’t fit with the DCR (drop call rates) benchmarks have been introduced, in which sum payable may depend upon the size of deviation from the benchmarks,” the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said recently.
It stated that if the grade isn’t met, the service provider may be fined up to Rs. 5 lakhs against one parameter “depending upon the extent of deviation of functionality from the benchmark”.
“In the event of successive contravention of the benchmarks for two quarters, monetary disincentive may be up to one-and-half occasions – and in the event of successive contravention of the benchmark for over two quarters, then it can be double the sum,” said the ruler.
TRAI said the amended regulation of “Quality of Service” would be effective from October Formerly, punishment on telephone drop norm breach was Rs. 50,000 per violation.
