Lok Sabha Question No. 4119 (UNSTARRED), answered on 2016-08-10
Subject: MTNL Services
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS
Asked by: A. ARUNMOZHITHEVAN, DODDAALAHALLI KEMPEGOWDA SURESH, PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY, E. T. MOHAMMED BASHEER, LALLU SINGH, RAVINDRA KUMAR RAY, NALIN KUMAR KATEEL

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO.4119 TO BE ANSWERED ON 10 TH   AUGUST, 2016

## MTNL SERVICES

4119.  SHRI A. ARUNMOZHI THEVAN:

SHRI D.K. SURESH:

SHRI PONGULETI SRINIVASA REDDY:

SHRI E.T. MOHAMMED BASHEER:

SHRI LALLU SINGH:

DR. RAVINDRA KUMAR RAY:

SHRI NALIN KUMAR KATEEL:

Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state:

- (a) whether  the  landline,  mobile  telephones  and  the  internet  services  of  the  Mahanagar Telephone  Nigam  Limited  (MTNL)  in  its  service  area  is  very  unsatisfactory  and  the  mobile network and internet connection is very poor particularly in Delhi;
- (b) if  so, the details thereof and the complaints received separately for landline telephones, mobile phones and internet services during the current year so far along with the reasons for unsatisfactory and poor mobile and internet connectivity;
- (c) whether there have been frequent server down problem in MTNL, Delhi;
- (d) if so, the details thereof and the reasons therefor; and
- (e) the  action  taken  by  the  Government  to  improve  network  problem,  internet  speed  and connectivity  and  landline  service  of  the  PSU  along  with  the  details  of  new  mobile  towers proposed to be set up in Delhi and Mumbai by the company?

## ANSWER

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

(a)&(b) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) monitors the performance of service providers, including Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited (MTNL) against the benchmarks for various quality of service parameters laid down by TRAI in the Quality of Service Regulations issued from time to time through Quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs) submitted by service providers.

As per PMR for the quarter ending March 2016, for 2G & 3G services,  MTNL is meeting all  the  parameters  in  both  Delhi  &  Mumbai  service  areas.    However,  in  May  2016,  TRAI  had undertaken drive test of mobile network of MTNL through Independent Agencies.  The results of these drive tests show that the call drop rate in the areas covered by the drive test route are far in excess of the prescribed benchmark of <2% .

As per PMR for the quarter ending March 2016, Basic Wireline Service, MTNL is meeting all the benchmarks for all the parameters in both Delhi & Mumbai service areas except % Fault repaired  within  5  days  (for  urban  areas)  in  Delhi  &  Mumbai  service  areas  and  Termination  / closure of service - %age requests for Termination / closure of service complied within 7 days in Mumbai service area.  Regarding Broadband services, MTNL is meeting all the benchmarks for all  the  parameters  in  both  Delhi  &  Mumbai  service  areas  except  the  benchmarks  related  to Service Provisioning and Fault Repair in Delhi & Mumbai service areas.

The details of complaints received by MTNL in respect of its landline, mobile and internet services during the current year are given below:

| Total no. of complaints received   | Total no. of complaints received   | Total no. of complaints received   |
|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|------------------------------------|
| Services                           | Delhi (From 1.04.16 to 30.06.16)   | Mumbai (From 1.04.16 to 31.07.16)  |
| Mobile services                    | 9323                               | 34231                              |
| Landline services                  | 489013                             | 651759                             |
| Broadband services                 | 339779                             | 390719                             |

(c)&(d) MTNL has reported that all its servers in its broadband unit of Delhi are installed in high availability mode.

(e) MTNL has been unable to invest in expansion of its networks due to financial distress. Government has provided financial assistance to Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited  (MTNL) for its revival as detailed below:

-  Surrender  with  refund  of  Broadband  Wireless  Access  (BWA)  spectrum  held  by MTNL in Delhi and Mumbai. Under this head, Rs.4,533.97 crores has been refunded to MTNL through bonds.
-  The  pension  liability  of  MTNL  for  its  staff  who  got  absorbed  from  DoT,  shall  get pension from the Government at par with BSNL absorbed staff.
-  Financial support of Rs.492.26 crores has been given to MTNL on account of liability arising from levy of Minimum Alternate Tax (MAT).
-  Refund  of  Rs.458.04  crores  to  MTNL  on  account  of  surrender  of  CDMA  (Code Division Multiple Access) spectrum.

In  addition  to  the  above,  separately  MTNL  is  taking  several  steps  to  improve  its telecommunication services, these include:

## For Landline/Broadband services:

-  To  provide  the  better  connectivity  &  assured  speed,  network  is  optimized  and DSLAMs  (Digital  Subscriber  Line  Access  Multiplexer)  are  deployed  near  to customer's premises.
-  Close monitoring and Review of various internal links of core equipment on routine basis using locally developed tool IP (Internet Protocol) Tester on mobile devices.
-  2Mbps & higher  speed  is  offered  through  FTTH  (Fibre  to  the  Home)/  ADSL2  + (Asymmetric  Digital  Subscriber  Line)  as  per  market  trend  and  popularity  among class of customers have been modified.

-  Experts groups have been formed to handle broadband service related complaints.
-  Separate teams have been deployed in each area to monitor and quick resolution of issues to further improve the services.
-  Regular meetings are planned with local authorities and Police to avoid damage to the cables during infrastructure works and cable theft.
-  Efforts are made to clear low insulation faults, repair of DPs (Distribution Points) and Pillars, outdoor faults to improve the line parameters.
-  Night patrolling of the area by officers to avoid cable theft/damage.
-  Workshops/ training are arranged to educate staff for handling the new challenges.
-  Customers are contacted on Mobile to fix convenient time to attend the fault.  In case of locked premises SMS being sent to expedite fault rectification.
-  Regular maintenance of Indoor & Outdoor network.
-  Faults handling has improved through provisioning of SMS to line staff/ officers, as well as customers.

## For mobile service:

-  Introduction of new frequency plan.
-  Optimization of cell level parameters.
-  Preventive maintenance to minimize the hardware faults.
-  On line monitoring of Base Transceiver Station (BTS) outages.
-  Optimization of Radio Frequency (RF) network regularly.
-  Expansion of 3G network by adding 1080 Node Bs in MTNL Delhi & upgradation of existing 3G core network in MTNL Mumbai.

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