Lok Sabha Question No. 520 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2017-07-19
Subject: Base Transreceiver Stations
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RAM CHARITRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.520 TO BE ANSWERED ON 19 th  JULY, 2017

## BASE TRANSRECEIVER STATIONS

## 520.   SHRI RAM CHARITRA NISHAD:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

(a) whether  the  telecom  service  providers  have  installed  more  than  130,000 additional  Base  Transreceiver  Stations  (BTS)  across  the  country  between  June  to October, 2016 and plan to install more than 150,000 more BTS till March, 2017;

(b) if so, the details thereof;

(c) whether the Government has warned the telecom service providers with slapping penalty and other action in case consumers continue to face call drops and call failures; and

- (d) 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) to (d) The Government has been periodically conducting the review of the call drop situation in the country and has been stressing upon the service providers to undertake qualitative improvement of mobile services and reduce call drop rate so that they could comply with the benchmarks prescribed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). Due to the periodic review and persuasion the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) have made continuous efforts for continued expansion of their  network.  As  a  result,  additional  Base  Transceiver  Station  (BTS)  have  been installed by the TSPs for 2G / 3G/ 4G cellular mobile services. The details are as below:

| Period              | Number of 2G/3G/4G BTSs added   |
|---------------------|---------------------------------|
| June to August 2016 | 96,472                          |
| September 2016      | 23,669                          |
| October 2016        | 25,395                          |
| November 2016       | 22,631                          |
| December 2016       | 20,861                          |
| January 2017        | 21,055                          |
| February 2017       | 20,440                          |
| March 2017          | 29,970                          |
| April 2017          | 26,078                          |
| Total               | 2,86,571                        |

The  notified  benchmarks  for  Quality  of  Services  in  case  of  Basic  and Cellular  Mobile  Services  are  assessed  through  submission  of  monthly/  quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMR)  by the service providers and the compliance status is published on TRAI's website (www.trai.gov.in). The Quality of Service (QoS) parameters being monitored by TRAI, inter-alia, include Network Availability and call drop rate.

The Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (wire line) and  Cellular  Mobile  Telephone  Service  Regulations,  2009  (as  amended)  also provides for financial disincentives to Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), who fail to meet  the benchmark  parameters  prescribed  by  TRAI  or  fail to submit compliance report to TRAI. So far, financial disincentives of Rs 17.375Crore have been collected by TRAI from TSPs.

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