Lok Sabha Question No. 2690 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-01-03
Subject: Quality of Service Norms
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: PINAKI MISRA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 2690 TO BE ANSWERED ON  3 RD  JANUARY, 2018

## QUALITY OF SERVICE NORMS

2690. SHRI PINAKI MISRA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Telecom  Industries  has  urged  the  TRAI  to  consider  a  six  month extension for implementation of new 'Quality of Service' norms;
- (b) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto; and
- (c) the  steps taken by the Government to ensure the quality of telecom service in view of non-compliance, if any, of 'Quality of Service' norms?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Yes, Madam. The telecom industry had urged Telecom Regulatory Authority of India  (TRAI)  to  consider  a  six-month  extension  for  implementation  of  the  amended Quality of Service (QoS) norms on 7 th   September 2017.
- (b) TRAI notified new Quality of Services regulation namely 'Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service (Fifth  Amendment) Regulations, 2017 (4 of 2017)' dated 18.08.2017. The regulations have since come into force from 1 st   October, 2017.

In  response  to  COAI  letter  dated  7.9.2017,  TRAI  vide  letter  dated  29.09.2017 informed COAI that since, first compliance report under the new regulations needs to be reported  to  TRAI  only  in  January,  2018,  the  time  period  given  in  the  regulations  is adequate.

Further,  vide  letter  dated  01.11.2017  COAI  raised  few  issues  and  requested TRAI to withdraw this new regulation or keep it in abeyance. A meeting of COAI and other  industry  representative  was  also  held  with  Secretary,  TRAI  on  10.11.2017,  in which all the doubts of COAI and Service Providers about new regulation were clarified and directed them to abide by the provisions of new regulation. Thereafter, TRAI sent a letter to COAI on 21.12.2017 clarifying issues raised by them in detail.

(c) In order to improve customer- experience, TRAI has notified the amended QoS benchmarks  with  effect  from  1 st   October,  2017  for  Second  Generation  (2G)  &  Third Generation(3G)  services  and  have  also  included  Fourth  Generation  (4G)  mobile services in its scope. The service providers are required to submit quarterly performance  report,  three  weeks  after  the  end  of  quarter.  Accordingly,  first  quarterly report as per the new regulation will only be available by 21 st   January, 2017.

The  Call  drop  rate  will  now  be  measured  on  Per-Cell  basis  instead  of  earlier methodology  of  average  of  all  Base  Transceiver  Stations  (BTS)  in  a  given  Licensed Service Area (LSA). It will remove the anomaly due to averaging of bad cells with good or excellent performing cells and make these QoS norms more stringent.

Financial  disincentives  have  also  been  revised  by  TRAI  to  deal  with  cases  of persistent  non-compliance.  While  the  ceiling  for  first  time  violation  against  a  given benchmark  has  been  enhanced  from  Rupees  One  lakh  at  present  to  a  maximum  of Rupees Five lakh per quarter. In case of repeated non-compliance, it has been raised from Rupees Two lakh at present to a maximum of Rupees Ten lakh per quarter.

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