Lok Sabha Question No. 1888 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-03-07
Subject: Call Drops
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: SANTOSH AHLAWAT, THOKCHOM MEINYA, RANGASWAMY DHRUVANARAYANA, RAJIV PRATAP RUDY, C.S. PUTTARAJU

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 1888 TO BE ANSWERED ON 7 th  MARCH, 2018

## CALL DROPS

## 1888.  SHRIMATI SANTOSH AHLAWAT:

DR. THOKCHOM MEINYA: SHRI R. DHRUVA NARAYANA: SHRI RAJIV PRATAP RUDY: SHRI C.S. PUTTA RAJU:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there has been an increase in the instances of call drops reported in the country;
- (b) if  so,  the  details  regarding  call  drops  reported  during  each  of  the  last  three  years State/UT-wise  and  telecom  company-wise  along  with  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  to check the call drop problem and to facilitate improvement and expansion of telecommunication services;
- (c) whether the Government has devised a mechanism so that any call which drops prior to disconnection by the dialler or the receiver should be deemed as calls not made and no tariff should be charged or paid for it;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and if not, the reasons therefor; and
- (e) whether the Government has observed any improvement in the compliance to benchmarks notified by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for call drop rate, if so, the details thereof?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF STATE (IC) OF THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS & MINISTER OF STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF RAILWAYS (SHRI MANOJ SINHA)

(a) (b) & (e) As  a  result  of  the  continuous  efforts  put-in  by  the  Government  and  Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), consistent improvements have been noted in compliance to Telecom Regulatory  Authority  of  India's  (TRAI)  Quality  of  service  benchmarks  for  both  2G  and  3G services.

As  per  TRAI's  latest  Performance  Indicator  Report  for  the  quarter,  July  to  September 2017, all TSPs providing 2G and 3G services comply to TRAI's Call drop benchmark of ≤ 2% for Licensed Service Area (LSA) as a whole.

Further, compliance to another benchmark, Worst affected cells having Traffic Channel (TCH) drop rate with  benchmark ≤  3%  has  also  improved  consistently. For  2G  services,  noncompliance in this regard has significantly decreased from 54 in quarter ending September 2015 to  20  in  quarter  ending  September  2017.  For  3G  services,  non-compliance  in  this  regard  has significantly decreased from 20 to 09 in the corresponding period.

Since TRAI Quality of services benchmarks are applicable to License Service Area (LSA) as whole, the details regarding call drops reported in each LSA during the last three years are mentioned in Annexure-I for 2G services and Annexure-II for 3G services.

In  order  to  facilitate  improvement  and  expansion  of  telecommunication  services,  the Government has initiated a series of measures which includes:

- (i) making available sufficient spectrum for mobile services including auction of 965 MHz in 2016,
- (ii) allowing  Spectrum  Sharing,  Trading  and  liberalisation  of  administratively  allocated spectrum as per the guidelines to facilitate efficient utilisation,
- (iii) permitting  sharing  of  active  as  well  as  passive  infrastructure  by  the  telecom  service providers for achieving higher utilisation efficiency,
- (iv) notification  of  Indian  Telegraph  Right  of  Way  Rules,  2016  in  November  2016  for regulating  underground  infrastructure  (optical  fibre)  and  over-ground  infrastructure (mobile towers),
- (v) periodic review of expansion of mobile networks and related improvements carried out by  the  Telecom  Service  Providers  (TSPs)-  leading  to  addition  of  around  6.6535  lakh additional Base Transceiver Stations on aggregate basis for 2G/3G/4G services during the period- July 2015 to February 2018,
- (vi) launching  of  Interactive  Voice  Response  Service  (IVRS)  on  call  drop  to  get  direct feedback  from  mobile  subscribers  and  sharing  the  feedback  with  TSPs  -  since  its launch  TSPs  have  resolved  58,700  individual  cases  by  taking  remedial  actions  until 31 st January 2018 and the call drops reported by individual subscribers have shown a drop of over 8% in the last 12 months.
- (vii) facilitating  use  of  Government  estate  for  installation  of  mobile  towers  on  multiplesharing basis,
- (viii) launching  of  Tarang  Sanchar,  a  public  web  portal  for  information  sharing  on  mobile towers and their EMF compliances, in May 2017.

(c) & (d) In the case of call drop, the customer is charged for the actual duration of the call till  the  call  is  dropped.  However,  to  compensate  the  consumers  for  such  dropped  call,  TRAI, through Telecom  Consumers  Protection  (9th Amendment),  2015  dated 16.10.2015 had mandated the originating service provider to credit the account of the calling consumer by one rupee for each dropped call within its network, subject to a maximum of Rs. 3 per day. However, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has set aside the regulation vide order dated 11.05.2016.

## Annexure-1

| Quarter                                   | July to September 2015             | July to September 2015                            | July to September 2016             | July to September 2016                            | July to September 2017             | July to September 2017                            |
|-------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| Performance Benchmarks for call drop rate | Call Drop Rate                     | Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop | Call Drop Rate                     | Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop | Call Drop Rate                     | Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop |
| Benchmark(s)                              | ≤ 2%                               | ≤ 3%                                              | ≤ 2%                               | ≤ 3%                                              | ≤ 2%                               | ≤ 3%                                              |
| License Service Area                      | Non-complying TSPs for 2G services | Non-complying TSPs for 2G services                | Non-complying TSPs for 2G services | Non-complying TSPs for 2G services                | Non-complying TSPs for 2G services | Non-complying TSPs for 2G services                |
| Andhra Pradesh                            |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | Vodafone                                          |                                    |                                                   |
| Assam                                     |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Bihar                                     | BSNL                               | Aircel, BSNL, Tata,                               |                                    | Aircel, Telenor                                   |                                    | Aircel, Telenor, Tata,                            |
| Delhi                                     |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Gujarat                                   |                                    | Tata,                                             |                                    | Telenor                                           |                                    |                                                   |
| Haryana                                   | Aircel                             | Aircel, Tata,                                     |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Himachal Pradesh                          | BSNL                               | Aircel, BSNL, Tata                                |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Jammu & Kashmir                           |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Karnataka                                 |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Kerala                                    |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Kolkata                                   |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | TTSL                                              |                                    |                                                   |
| Madhya Pradesh                            |                                    | Tata, Vodafone                                    |                                    | Vodafone                                          |                                    | Vodafone                                          |
| Maharashtra                               |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | Telenor                                           |                                    | Telenor                                           |
| Mumbai                                    |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | Aircel, Vodafone                                  |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| North East                                | BSNL                               | Aircel, BSNL                                      |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Odisha                                    |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Punjab                                    |                                    | Aircel, BSNL, Tata                                |                                    |                                                   |                                    | Tata                                              |
| Rajasthan                                 |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |
| Tamil Nadu                                |                                    | Aircel, Tata                                      |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Uttar Pradesh (East)                      |                                    | Tata , Vodafone                                   |                                    | Telenor, Vodafone                                 |                                    | Telenor                                           |
| Uttar Pradesh (West)                      |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    | Telenor                                           |                                    |                                                   |
| West Bengal                               |                                    | Aircel, BSNL, Tata                                |                                    | Aircel, BSNL                                      |                                    | Aircel, BSNL                                      |

Contd…4/-

## Annexure-2

| Quarter                                   | July to September 2015             | July to September 2015                            | July to September 2016             | July to September 2016                            | July to September 2017             | July to September 2017                            |
|-------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------|---------------------------------------------------|
| Performance Benchmarks for call drop rate | Call Drop Rate                     | Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop | Call Drop Rate                     | Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop | Call Drop Rate                     | Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop |
| Benchmark(s)                              | 2%                                 | 3%                                                | 2%                                 | 3%                                                | 2%                                 | 3%                                                |
| License Service Area                      | Non-complying TSPs for 3G services | Non-complying TSPs for 3G services                | Non-complying TSPs for 3G services | Non-complying TSPs for 3G services                | Non-complying TSPs for 3G services | Non-complying TSPs for 3G services                |
| Andhra Pradesh                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Assam                                     |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Bihar                                     | BSNL                               | Aircel, BSNL                                      |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Delhi                                     |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |                                    | R-Com                                             |
| Gujarat                                   |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Haryana                                   |                                    | Vodafone                                          |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Himachal Pradesh                          |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Jammu & Kashmir                           |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel, Airtel                                    |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Karnataka                                 |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    |                                                   |
| Kerala                                    |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Kolkata                                   |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Madhya Pradesh                            |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Maharashtra                               |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Mumbai                                    |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| North East                                | BSNL                               | Aircel, BSNL                                      |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Odisha                                    |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Punjab                                    |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    |                                                   |
| Rajasthan                                 |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |                                    |                                                   |
| Tamil Nadu                                |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |                                    | Aircel                                            |
| Uttar Pradesh (East)                      |                                    | Aircel, Vodafone                                  |                                    | Aircel, Vodafone                                  |                                    |                                                   |
| Uttar Pradesh (West)                      |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    | Tata                                              |                                    |                                                   |
| West Bengal                               |                                    | BSNL                                              |                                    | BSNL                                              |                                    | Aircel, BSNL                                      |

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