Trai tightens call drop regulations

According to Trai secretary (acting) SK Gupta, if an operator fails to meet the call drop benchmark in a consecutive quarter, the penalty amount will be hiked 1.5 times and in the third consecutive month it will be doubled.

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“We have proposed financial disincentive in the range of Rs 1-5 lakh. It is a graded penalty system depending on the performance of a network,” Trai chairman RS Sharma said.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday made its quality of service norms relating to call drops more stringent by changing the measurement criteria — moving from the circle level to the tower level — and steeply increased the penalty for breaching the benchmark from Rs 1 lakh per violation to a maximum of Rs 5 lakh. The penalty can even go up to Rs10 lakh if operators fail to meet the benchmark for three consecutive quarters.

“We have proposed financial disincentive in the range of Rs 1-5 lakh. It is a graded penalty system depending on the performance of a network,” Trai chairman RS Sharma said. According to Trai secretary (acting) SK Gupta, if an operator fails to meet the call drop benchmark in a consecutive quarter, the penalty amount will be hiked 1.5 times and in the third consecutive month it will be doubled.

“However, there is cap of Rs10 lakh on financial disincentive,” Gupta said. Unlike the previous regulation which allowed call drops up to 2 per cent on average in a circle, the new methodology has introduced a drop call rate (DCR) spatial distribution measure, which means that call drop rate should not exceed 2 per cent for 90 per cent of the telecom towers of an operator in a circle for at least 90 per cent of the days. This means drops will not be measured on basis of circle but of towers.

Similarly, the DCR temporal distribution measure stipulates that in the worst case or during busy hours, call drop rate must not exceed the 3 per cent benchmark for 97 per cent of the towers in a telecom circle for 90 per cent of the days. “We have added a temporal (time-based) and a spatial (geography-based) calculation for call drops. This will be done on a percentile basis. Averages many times hide many things. This new method will help in providing good services to even areas which suffered even though the overall call drop level was within the stipulated level,” Sharma said.

The calculations will be made on a quarterly basis. These new regulations will be applicable from October 1, 2017.

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