Lok Sabha Question No. 511 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2019-11-20
Subject: Penalties for Call Drops
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: Vishnu Dutt Sharma, Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, Shardaben Anilbhai Patel, Dharambir Singh, Pushpendra Singh Chandel

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 511 TO BE ANSWERED ON 20 TH   NOVEMBER, 2019

## PENALTIES FOR CALL DROPS

## †511.   SHRI VISHNU DATT SHARMA: SHRI KUNWAR PUSHPENDRA SINGH CHANDEL: SHRI GIRISH BHALCHANDRA BAPAT: SHRIMATI SHARDABEN ANILBHAI PATEL: SHRI DHARAMBIR SINGH:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  call  drop  problem  is  taking  place  in  networks  of  all  the  Telecom  Service Providers (TSPs) across the country including Haryana and Delhi for the past several years and if so, the  details  thereof  and  the  reasons  therefor  along  with  the  steps  taken  by  the  Government  in  this regard;
- (b) whether the Government is contemplating the review of telecom policy to check call drops and if so, the details thereof;
- (c) whether call drop norms have currently been violated by various telecom companies and if so, the details thereof and the action taken by the Government in this regard;
- (d) whether there is a provision to compensate the mobile subscribers with regard to call drops and if so, the State/ UT-wise details of the compensation paid by the companies as on date;
- (e) whether the Government has imposed any penalty on telecom companies for call drop and if so, the details thereof, telecom company-wise; and
- (f) the details of telecom providers who paid the said penalty imposed on them along with the details of payments made?

## ANSWER

## MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS, LAW & JUSTICE AND ELECTRONICS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

(a) to (c) The  call  drop  in  a  mobile  network  can  happen  due  to  many  reasons  including characteristics  of  radio  propagation  for  wireless  communications,  non-availability  of  sites  due  to acquisition  problems,  sealing  of  sites  by  local  authorities  due  to  fear  of  Electro-Magnetic  Fields (EMF) from mobile radiations etc. Therefore, the occurrence of call drops is found to be common in mobile networks across  the  world  with  varying  degree  of  occurrences.  Telecom  Service  Providers (TSPs) in India are required to ensure that the call-drop rate in their mobile networks remain within the benchmarks laid down by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

TRAI  has  issued  'The  Standards  for  Quality  of  Service  for  Basic  (Wireline)  and  Cellular Mobile Telephone Services (Fifth Amendment) Regulations, 2017' effective from 1 st October 2017. These Regulations have prescribed two revised parameters for assessing call drop in mobile network, viz. Call drop-rate Spatial distribution measure (benchmark ≤ 2%) implies that at-least 90% of Cells in  the  network  should  perform  better  than  specified  2%  benchmark  on  at-least  90%  of  days. Similarly, another new parameter, Call drop-rate Temporal distribution measure (benchmark ≤ 3%) will  give  confidence  that  on  at-least  90%  of  Days,  network  performed  better  than  specified  3% benchmark for at-least 97% of the Cells.

Revised approach for assessing Call drop-rate gives better insight into the network performance of  service  providers  and  help  to  highlight  the  specific  areas  and  specific  days  when  network performance  was  excellent  or  good  or  poor.  The  performance  on  these  parameters  is  monitored quarterly  through  Performance  Monitoring  Reports  (PMR)  submitted  by  service  providers  for  the service area as a whole.

As per the PMR for Cellular Mobile Telephone Services for the quarter ending September 2019 of  TRAI,  all  TSPs  are  complying  to  Drop  Call  Rate  (DCR)  benchmarks  despite  rapid  increase  in traffic volume and more stringent benchmarks, except for the parameter 'Network QoS DCR Spatial distribution  measure  or  DCR  Network\_QSD(90,90)  (benchmark  ≤  2%)'  where  M/s  BSNL  is  not meeting  in  one  LSA  (West  Bengal  only)  and  for  the  parameter  'Network  QoS  DCR  temporal distribution measure or DCR Network\_QTD(97,90) (benchmark ≤ 3%)', M/s BSNL is not meeting in one LSA (West Bengal only), M/s VIL(Idea) & VIL(Vodafone) in one LSA each (Jammu & Kashmir only).

Wherever the benchmark is not met, the explanation of the Service Providers is called for and after considering the explanation submitted by service providers in this regard, TRAI impose financial disincentives for non-compliance with the benchmark.

In order to address call drops, following steps have been taken:

(i) DoT has taken several policy initiatives to facilitate infrastructure growth for delivery of  quality  services.  These  include  permitting  trading/sharing/  liberalisation  of  spectrum, permitting  passive  &  active  infrastructure  sharing,  notification  of  Right  of  Way  Rules  2016, making available government land/buildings for installations of towers etc.

(ii) About  15.66  lakh  additional  Base  Transceiver  Stations  (BTSs)  for  2G/3G/4G-LTE services have been added by TSPs since March 2014 taking the total BTS count in the country to about 22.15 lakh in September 2019.

(iii) In order to obtain direct feedback from subscribers, DoT has launched an Interactive Voice Response System (IVRS) wherein, around 3.23 Crore subscribers have been individually contacted since December 2016, out of which 45.18 lakh subscribers have participated in the survey. The feedback is shared with the TSPs every week for taking corrective actions in a time bound manner. As a result, about 1.14 lakh individual cases of call drops have been resolved so far.

(d) Vide Telecom Consumers Protection (9th Amendment) Regulation, 2015 dated 16th October 2015, TRAI had mandated compensation to consumers of mobile services at the rate of Rs. 1/- per drop call, subject to a maximum of Rs. 3/- per day per subscriber by the concerned Telecom Service Providers (TSPs). However, the Hon'ble Supreme Court has set aside the regulation vide Order dated 11th May, 2016.

(e) to (f) With  effect  from  1st  October  2017,  TRAI  has  also  introduced  a  revised  graded Financial  Disincentives  (FD)  structure  for  DCR  parameters,  based  on  the  extent  to  which  a  TSP's performance deviates from the specified DCR benchmark. Details of financial disincentives imposed are at Annexure-I.

## Annexure-I

Annexure referred  to  in  reply  of  para  (e)  to  (f)  of  LokSabha  Unstarred  Question  No.  511  to  be answered  on  20th  November,  2019  raised  by  Hon'ble  Members  of  Parliament  Shri  Vishnu  Datt Sharma, Shri Kunwar Pushpendra Singh Chandel, Shri Girish Bhalchandra Bapat, ShrimatiShardabenAnilbhai Patel & Shri Dharambir Singh regarding 'Penalties for Call Drops'

| Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   | Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   | Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   | Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   | Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   | Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   | Details of Financial Disincentives imposed on the Telecom Service Providers for Non- Compliance of Call Drop   |
|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|
| Service Provider                                                                                               | Parameters                                                                                                     | December 2017                                                                                                  | March 2018                                                                                                     | June 2018                                                                                                      | September 2018                                                                                                 | December 2018                                                                                                  |
| Aircel                                                                                                         | Network QoS DCR Spatial Distribution Measure [Network_ QSD(90,90)]                                             | Rs. 23.00 lakhs for 16 LSAs (Amount not received)                                                              |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| Aircel                                                                                                         | Network QoS DCR Temporal Distribution Measure [Network_ QTD(97,90)]                                            | 27.00 Lakhs for 16 LSAs (Amount not received)                                                                  |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| BSNL                                                                                                           | Network QoS DCR Spatial Distribution Measure [Network_ QSD(90,90)]                                             | 3.00 lakhs for 2 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 1.50 lakhs for 1 LSA (amount received)                                                                         | 2.00 Lakhs for 1 LSA (amount not received)                                                                     | 2.00 Lakhs for 1 LSA (amount not received)                                                                     | 2.00 Lakhs for 1 LSA (amount not received)                                                                     |
| BSNL                                                                                                           | Network QoS DCR Temporal Distribution Measure [Network_ QTD(97,90)]                                            | 3.00 lakhs for 2 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 1.50 lakhs for 1 LSA (amount received)                                                                         | 2.00 Lakhs for 1 LSA (amount not received)                                                                     | 2.00 Lakhs for 1 LSA (amount not received)                                                                     | 2.00 Lakhs for 1 LSA (amount not received)                                                                     |
| IDEA                                                                                                           | Network QoS DCR Spatial Distribution Measure [Network_ QSD(90,90)]                                             | 12.00 Lakhs for 12 LSAs (amount received)                                                                      | 7.50 Lakhs for 5 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 8.00 Lakhs for 4 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| IDEA                                                                                                           | Network QoS DCR Temporal Distribution Measure [Network_ QTD(97,90)]                                            | 6.00 Lakhs for 6 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 3.00 lakhs for 2 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 4.00 Lakhs for 2 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| Tata                                                                                                           | Network QoS DCR Spatial Distribution Measure [Network_ QSD(90,90)]                                             | 3.00 Lakhs for 3 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 7.50 Lakhs for 5 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| Tata                                                                                                           | Network QoS DCR Temporal Distribution Measure [Network_ QTD(97,90)]                                            | 4.00 Lakhs for 4 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 15.00 lakhs for 7 LSAs (amount received)                                                                       |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| Telenor                                                                                                        | Network QoS DCR Spatial Distribution Measure [Network_ QSD(90,90)]                                             | 4.00 Lakhs for 4 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 3.00 lakhs for 2 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| Telenor                                                                                                        | Network QoS DCR Temporal Distribution Measure [Network_ QTD(97,90)]                                            | 3.00 Lakhs for 3 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        | 3.00 lakhs for 2 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |
| Vodafone                                                                                                       | Network QoS DCR Spatial Distribution Measure [Network_ QSD(90,90)]                                             | 5.00 Lakhs for 5 LSAs (amount received)                                                                        |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |                                                                                                                |

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