Lok Sabha Question No. 181 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2018-07-18
Subject: Poor Mobile Services by BSNL and MTNL
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: RAMCHARAN BOHARA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK  SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 181 TO BE ANSWERED ON 18 th   JULY, 2018

## POOR MOBILE SERVICES BY BSNL AND MTNL

## †181. SHRI RAM CHARAN BOHRA:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  Government  has  taken  cognizance  of  poor  mobile  and  other services provided by Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) in different parts of the country;
- (b) if so, the reaction of the Government thereto and the remedial steps taken by the Government in this regard;
- (c) whether the Government has set up any institutional mechanism and procedure to resolve the complaints of deficiency in services against BSNL and MTNL in the time bound manner;
- (d) if so, the details thereof; and
- (e) the time limit fixed for resolution of different complaints?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) Telecom  Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  monitors  the  performance  of service  providers,  including  Bharat  Sanchar  Nigam  Limited  (BSNL)  and  Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) against the benchmarks for various quality of service parameters laid down by TRAI in the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations issued from time to time through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs) submitted by Telecom Service Providers (TSP) for the service area as a whole.

As per PMR for the quarter ending March 2018, for Cellular Mobile Telephone Services  BSNL  is  meeting  the  benchmarks  for  all  the  parameters  in  all  the  service areas,  except  the  parameters  for  assessing  call  drop  viz  'Network  QoS  DCR  Spatial distribution measure or DCR Network\_QSD(90,90) (benchmark 2%)',  and 'Network QoS DCR temporal distribution measure or DCR Network\_QTD(97,90) (benchmark ≤ 3%)', in West Bengal Service area only.  Whereas, MTNL is meeting the benchmarks for all the parameters in all the service areas.

As  per  PMR  for  the  quarter  ending  March  2018,  for  Basic  Wireline  Services BSNL is  meeting  the  benchmarks  for  all  the  parameters  in  the  service  areas  except 'Response time to the customer for assistance  - Accessibility of call centre/customer care  in  Jharkhand  and  Kolkata  Service  areas  only.  Whereas,  MTNL  is  meeting  the benchmarks for all the parameters in all the service areas except 'Fault repaired within 5 days (for urban areas) in Delhi and Mumbai Service area and the parameter '%age of request for Termination / Closure of service complied within 7 days in Mumbai service area.

As per PMR for the quarter ending March 2018, for Broadband Services BSNL and MTNL are meeting the benchmarks for all the parameters in all the service areas.

(b) Initiatives taken by TRAI, BSNL and MTNL towards further improvement in the service are summarized at Annexure-I, Annexure-II and Annexure-III respectively.

(c) & (d) The primary responsibility of addressing the service, billing and quality of service related grievances lies with the telecom service provider. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has framed regulations for handling of public grievances and maintaining the quality of service parameters for Telecom Service Providers. According to 'Telecom Complaint Redressal Regulations, 2012' as amended from time to time, all Telecom Service Providers should set up a two tier grievance redressal mechanism i.e.

## (i) Establishment of a Complaint Centre with a toll-free 'Consumer Care Number'

(ii)  Establishment  of  an  Appellate  Authority.  Accordingly,  complainants  to  approach their telecom service providers for redressal of their grievances.

In  case the complainant is not satisfied with the decision taken by  the telecom service provider or there is delay in redressal of grievance at any point of time /stage in the above process, the complainant may also approach an appropriate court of law/ any other appropriate forum (judicial / quasi-judicial) against the service provider.

An  individual  complainant  may  also  file  before  Public  Grievance  Cell  of  the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) in either of the following ways:

(i)  By  hand;  (ii)By  post;  (iii)  Through  FAX;  (iv)  Telephonically;  OR  (v)  By  Web Portal(CPGRAMS) URL: http://www.pgportal.gov.in

All such Complaints received are then registered on the web portal, so that the processing is monitored in transparent, user friendly and structured manner.

Twitter Seva has been started on 02.08.2016 for handling of Grievances/feedback related to various Telecom Service Providers (TSPs).

Department  of  Telecommunications  (DoT)  had  launched  an  Interactive  Voice Response  System  (IVRS)  on  23.12.2016  to  obtain  direct  feedback  from  subscribers. Through this System, a subscriber receives a telephone call with short code 1955 and is requested to respond to a few questions on problem of call drops faced during last one month.  Upto 31.05.2018, 1.64 crore calls were made to subscribers of all TSPs across the country.

- (e) BSNL  and  MTNL  make  continuous  efforts  to  comply  with  Quality  of  Service benchmarks set by TRAI regarding different types of complaints.  TRAI's benchmarks are as follows:

## For Basic Services:

|   Sl. No | PARAMETERS                                                                  | TRAI TARGETS                              |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|-------------------------------------------|
|        1 | %of faults repaired by next working day                                     | >90%                                      |
|        2 | %of faults repaired within 3 working days                                   | =>99%                                     |
|        3 | %age of billing complaints resolved within 4 weeks                          | 100% within 4 weeks                       |
|        4 | %age of cases to whom refund of deposits is made within 60 days of closures | 100% within 4 weeks                       |
|        5 | %age of calls answered by operator (voice to voice) within 60 sec           | within 1 week of resolution of complaints |

## For Mobile Services

|   Sl. No | PARAMETERS                                                                                                     | TRAI TARGETS                             |
|----------|----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------|------------------------------------------|
|        1 | Metering and billing credibility - post paid,                                                                  | ≤0.1%                                    |
|        2 | Metering and billing credibility - pre paid,                                                                   | ≤0.1%                                    |
|        3 | Resolution of billing/charging/ validity complaints,                                                           | 100% within 4 weeks                      |
|        4 | Period of applying credit/ waiver/ adjustment to customer's account from the date of resolution of complaints. | Within 1 week of resolution of complaint |
|        5 | %age requests for Termination / Closure of service complied within 7 days.                                     | 100% within 7 days                       |
|        6 | Time taken for refund of deposits after closures.                                                              | 100% within 60 days                      |
|        7 | Accessibility of call centre/ Customer care                                                                    | 95%                                      |
|        8 | %age of calls answered by the operator (Voice to Voice)                                                        | 90%                                      |

## For Broadband Services

|   Sl. No | PARAMETERS                                                                  | TRAI TARGETS               |
|----------|-----------------------------------------------------------------------------|----------------------------|
|        1 | Service Provisioning/Activation time                                        | 100% in = <15 working days |
|        2 | Faults Repair/restoration time                                              |                            |
|        3 | %of faults repaired by next working day                                     | > 90%                      |
|        4 | %of faults repaired within 3 working day                                    | >= 99%                     |
|        5 | %age of billing related complaints resolved within 4 weeks                  | 100% within 4 weeks        |
|        6 | %age of cases to whom refund of deposits is made within 60 days of closures | 100% within 60 days        |

## Annexure-I

Remedial  steps  taken  by  TRAI  towards  further  strengthening  of  mobile  and  other services of Telecom Service Providers (TSPs):

1.  Close monitoring of performance of service providers, against the benchmarks for  various  Quality  of  Service  parameters  laid  down  by  TRAI,  through  periodic reports from service providers.
2.  Follow up action with service providers for improving quality of service.
3.  Audit and Assessment of Quality of Service through independent agencies. Also operator  assisted  drive  tests  of  mobile  networks  are  conducted  throughout  the country to assess coverage and quality.
4.  Publication of results of Audit & Assessment of Quality of Service, including for Call Drop parameters on TRAI website namely www.trai.gov.in for information of stakeholders, forcing the service providers to improve its service.
5.  Review of performance against the Quality of Service benchmarks  and imposition of financial disincentives for non-compliance with the benchmarks for Quality of Service parameters.
6.  For  addressing  Call  Drop,  TRAI  regularly  undertakes  the  drive  tests  of  mobile networks  in  select  cities,  highways  and  railway  routs  to  assess  the  Quality  of Service  and  coverage  around  the  areas  covered  in  the  drive  test  routes.  The results of Drive tests are shared with the service providers for improving Quality of Service and coverage in the areas identified in the Drive Tests.

## Annexure-II

Remedial steps taken by BSNL towards further strengthening of its mobile and other services:

## For Mobile Services

-  BSNL  is  augmenting  its  mobile  network  progressively  so  as  to  enhance coverage/ capacity, and to further improve Quality of Service.
-  BSNL is also optimizing its network continuously for its performance.
-  BSNL  continuously  surveys  for  the  low  signal  area  and  take  corrective measures for providing the services on techno commercial basis.

## For Land Line Services

-  Fixed land line faults mainly occur due to damage of UG cable during road works, all circles/field units have been asked for close coordination with the Local bodies, PWD,  Water  Authority  and  NHAI  authorities.  In  addition,  regular  patrolling  of important cable routes is done to prevent cable thefts/cable damages.
-  Monitoring of the network has also been strengthened to ensure performance as per the Quality of Service parameters prescribed by TRAI.
-  Timely  availability  of  store  items  like  cable,  drop-wire  to  field  units  of  BSNL  to maintain and improve the network.
-  Rehabilitation of outdoor network is under process to reduce the landline faults.
-  Monsoon  control  room  set  up  in  the  circles  during  monsoon  to  monitor  the functioning of Landline and  Broadband  services.  Faults  related to Landline telephones and Broadband connections are being attended.
-  Help desk portal and Call centre are set up.
-  The exchanges failure  due to OFC faults and local cable breakdown is attended quickly.
-  Round  the  clock  toll  free  complaint  booking  mechanism.  A  stringent  monitoring procedure  is being adopted  for  prompt  and  timely clearance of  customers complaints through exclusive section at all level of the organization.
-  Conversion of existing technology switches to Next Generation network.
-  Provision of ring system for exchanges for redundancy in connectivity.

## Annexure-III

Remedial steps taken by MTNL towards further strengthening of its mobile and other services:

Landline service:

-  Refurbishing of 20% Pillars and DPs every year, is planned in phased manner. 2662 Pillar  and  52907  DP  have  been  refurbished  by  MTNL  last  year  as  on 31.03.2018
-  To  improve  copper  pair  quality,  81,492  mtr  existing  Drop  wires  have  been replaced  with  twisted  drop  wires  or  thermo  sleeves  have  been  put  at  open joints at DPs by MTNL this year, as on 31.03.2018.
-  Training  is  being  given  to  line  staff  to  improve  maintenance  and  installation practices.
-  To control increased number of cable theft cases in Delhi, in-house cable theft alarm system has been developed and being deployed for all primary cables above 400 pair capacity
-  GM  Area-wise  meeting  is  being  taken  by  CMD  and  concerned  Director  to address  their  problem,  review  the  performance  and  motivate  for  better outcomes.

## Broadband service:

-  To  give  boost  to  customer  experience,  Download  Speed  of  Broadband subscribers is being upgraded  upto  8  Mbps  progressively without any additional cost depending upon feasibility and line parameters.
-  Tariff  re-balancing  of  Broadband  service  has  been  done  for  giving  more competitive and attractive tariff package to the customers.
-  Societies / Areas where OFC / FTTH is already available, BB Subscribers are being migrated to FTTH free of cost and work has been started.
-  To  improve  QOS  and  speed  of  Broadband  service,  DSLAMs  are  being redeployed near customer premise.  In 2017, 47 DSLAMs in Delhi and 22 in Mumbai have been redeployed thereby reducing copper length and enhancing the quality of Broadband service.
-  Proactive Monitoring of Broadband Faults through Radius attempt.
-  On  line  tool  (IPTESTER)  used  for  monitoring  on  real  time  basis  of  the BTS/Node-B, Broadband Equipment and FTTH Customers.
-  Trainings have been organized for line staff to improve their skills for greater overall customer satisfaction.

FTTH service:

-  FTTH revenue share policy  was  modified  to  make  it  more  flexible  to  attract new partners with enhanced revenue share to encourage partners to rollout more  connections;  Partners  in  Delhi  and  Mumbai  have  already  started operations. Active monitoring is being done  to  ensure to achieve the envisaged targets  of  the  policy.  Regular  advisories  are  being  issued  to  field units.  In  the  year  2017-18,  total  922  connections  have  been  provisioned  by FTTH partners in Mumbai while 1180 connections were provisioned in Delhi.

## Mobile service:

MTNL has undertaken the task of improving the Wireless Network in Delhi and Mumbai so as to improve the downlink speed to 21.1 Mbps & uplink speed of 5.76  Mbps  which  is  presently  of  3.6  Mbps  &  384  Kbps  respectively  with following major projects:

-  Expansion of GSM / 3G RF network in MTNL Delhi
-  Upgradation / replacement of 3G RF network in MTNL Delhi
-  3G Network Up-gradation in Mumbai

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