Lok Sabha Question No. 128 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-02-24
Subject: Call Drops
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JOSE K. MANI, K. ASHOK KUMAR, MAHEISH GIRRI, NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN, NISHIKANT  DUBEY, KIRIT SOMAIYA, NITYANAND RAI, RAHUL RAMESH SHEWALE, SAUGATA ROY, RAMACHANDRAN MULLAPPALLY, K. MARAGATHAM, RAMDAS CHANDRABHANJI TADAS, PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY, SUNIL KUMAR MONDAL, SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE, V. SATHYABAMA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA

## UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.128

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016

## CALL DROPS

128.   SHRI JOSE K. MANI:

SHRI K. ASHOK KUMAR:

SHRI MAHEISH GIRRI:

SHRI NAGENDRA KUMAR PRADHAN:

SHRI NISHIKANT DUBEY:

DR. KIRIT SOMAIYA:

SHRI NITYANAND RAI:

SHRI RAHUL SHEWALE:

PROF. SAUGATA ROY:

SHRI MULLAPPALLY RAMACHANDRAN:

SHRIMATI K. MARAGATHAM:

SHRI RAMDAS C. TADAS:

SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY:

SHRI SUNIL KUMAR MONDAL:

DR. SHRIKANT EKNATH SHINDE:

SHRIMATI V. SATHYA BAMA::

Will  the  Minister  of  COMMUNICATIONS  AND  INFORMATION  TECHNOLOGY be pleased to state:

- (a) whether there has been virtually no decrease in call drops and improvement in the  quality  of  mobile  network  coverage  in  recent  months  despite  the  Government's tough posture on the issue;
- (b) if so, the reasons therefor;
- (c) whether the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has conducted service quality audit of mobile network service providers;
- (d) if  so, the outcome thereof, operator and circle-wise and the steps taken by the Union Government to deal with the call drops menace and the action taken against the operators for unsatisfactory services and call drops; and
- (e) whether the compensation system for call drop has been implemented and if so, the  number of subscribers compensated so far, operator-wise and if not, the timeline fixed for its implementation?

## ANSWER

## THE MINISTER OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI RAVI SHANKAR PRASAD)

- (a) & (b) The Government has actively worked in the recent months to reduce the instances  of  call  drops  and  further  improve  quality  of  mobile  network  coverage.  As  a result, the certain developments so far are mentioned in-brief as follows:
-  The recent Regulations notified  by  TRAI  has  imposed  stricter  penalties  for not meeting Quality of Services parameters by the telecommunications service providers. TRAI has also notified the Regulations that mandates the compensation at the rate of Re 1/- per call drop per subscriber who has experienced call drops during the day. It is provided  that  a  maximum  of  03  call  drops  per  day  in  a  given  network  may  be compensated by the service provider for each subscriber.

-  During the last six months, around 20 thousand additional sites have been added for  2G  (GSM)  services  across  India.  Similarly  around  45  thousand  sites  have  been added for 3G services.
-  The Government has continued to facilitate the availability of Government land and buildings  for  further  installations  by  the  service  providers  and  has  been  creating awareness to dispel the potential fear due to EMF radiations on human health.
- (c) TRAI has been conducting the service quality audit of mobile networks service providers on regular basis since July 2015. The most recent audit exercise for 7 major cities  viz.  Delhi,  Mumbai,  Kolkata,  Bhubaneshwar,  Indore,  Pune  and  Surat  has  been conducted during December 2015 to January 2016. The results have been published by TRAI on 4 th February 2016.
- (d) As  a  result,  out  of  217  '2G'  service  providers,  the  number  of  defaulters  have reduced from 54 to 39 in the last four months. Similarly, out of 94 '3G' service providers, the number of defaulters have reduced from 20 to 18. This relates to the cases where the measured call drop rate is over 3%.
- (e) While  certain  financial  penalties  have  also  been  imposed  by  TRAI  on  the defaulting  service  providers,  the  case  to  provide  compensation  to  each  subscriber  is currently sub judice at High Court of Delhi. The judgement on the matter is reserved.

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