Lok Sabha Question No. 11 (STARRED), answered on 2016-02-24
Subject: Compensation for Call drops
Ministry: COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY
Asked by: JAYADEV GALLA

## GOVERNMENT OF INDIA

## MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS

## LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.11

## TO BE ANSWERED ON 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016

## COMPENSATION FOR CALL DROPS

- *11. SHRI JAYADEV GALLA:

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

- (a) the  mechanism  in  place  to  ensure  compliance  of  Government/Telecom  Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) directions/orders by the telecom companies including call drops;
- (b) whether  the  telecom  companies  are  reportedly  defying  the  Government  and  the (TRAI) order under the guise of court cases;
- (c) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto;
- (d) whether  the  Delhi  High  Court  has  stayed  an  interim  order  of  TRAI  on  call  drop compensation; and
- (e) if so, the details thereof and the reaction of the Government thereto?

## ANSWER

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

- (a) to (e) A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.

## STATEMENT  TO  BE  LAID  ON  THE  TABLE  OF  THE  LOK  SABHA  IN  RESPECT  OF PARTS (a) TO (e) OF LOK  SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO.11 FOR 24 th  FEBRUARY, 2016 REGARDING 'COMPENSATION FOR CALL DROPS'.

(a) As per the clause 11 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997, Telecom Regulatory  Authority  of  India  (TRAI)  lay  down  the  standards  of  quality  of  service  to  be provided by the service providers and to ensure the quality of service conduct the periodical survey of such service provided by the service providers so as to protect the interests of the consumers of telecommunication service. Accordingly, TRAI has laid down Quality of Service (QoS) benchmarks for Basic Telephone Service (Wireline) and  Cellular  Mobile  Telephone Service through 'The Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (Wireline) and  Cellular  Mobile  Telephone  Service  Regulations,  2009'  issued  on  20 th March,  2009. Subsequently,  these  Regulations  have  been  amended  from  time  to  time.  TRAI  has  also prescribed financial disincentives upon access service providers for failure to meet the QoS benchmarks.  With  in  effect  from 15 th October, 2015,  TRAI  has  made  the  financial disincentives more stringent in cases of continuous non-compliance. The penalties amounting to Rs. 10,70,35,000/- (Rupees Ten crores, Seventy lakhs and Thirty five thousand only)  has  been  imposed  so  far  on  defaulting  service  providers  for  not  meeting  the  QoS benchmarks.

(b) to (e) In view of the numerous complaints relating to  call drops in different parts of India,  TRAI,  after  consulting  the  stake  holders,  has  enacted  the  Telecom  Consumer Protection (Ninth Amendment) Regulations, 2015 dated 16.10.2015, which came into force on January 1, 2016. As provided in the Regulations, maximum of 3 call drops per day per subscriber  are  required  to  be  compensated  in  favour  of  the  caller  by  the  related  service provider at the rate of Rs. 1 per call drop in the given service area.   However, some of the telecommunications  service  providers  and  Cellular  Operators  Association  of  India  (COAI) moved a petition against the regulations on 9.12.2015 in Delhi High Court. Department of Telecommunications got impleaded as one of the respondents in the above said matter. The hearings had been concluded and the judgment is reserved in the matter. During the course of hearings the Court had directed TRAI on 6 th January 2016 not to take any coercive action within the scope of said Regulations.

Moreover, the Department is actively coordinating to improve upon the current status of call  drops  by  involving  concerned  government  agencies  such  as  New  Delhi  Municipal Corporation (NDMC), Directorate of Estates, Central Public Works Department (CPWD) and Security agencies as well as State Governments for granting permission for deployment of additional sites. Further, the Department as well as TRAI has been spreading the awareness amongst the general public and mobile users that the radio emissions from telecommunications equipments have no potential health hazards.

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