Trai wants district and state level data to improve the quality of telecom services
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has given a new direction to telecom service providers (TSPs) to provide detailed Quality of Service (QoS) data linked to district and state levels, officials said.
Currently, TSPs submit QoS data according to License Service Area (LSA), commonly called telecom circles. India has 22 telecom circles, many of which do not correspond to individual state boundaries. For example, Uttar Pradesh has two circles (East and West), while Maharashtra and Goa are a single circle.
While a large number of consumers complain about the poor quality of the experience, performance is average across the telecom circle, officials noted. “But this often paints a different picture of QoS than what a customer experiences, with many areas or locations within the service area offering significantly worse service. Meanwhile, operators continue to largely meet the benchmark for most QoS parameters,” said one TRAI official. .
But the move has been met with resistance from telecom companies who say it is not possible to collect the data. “The data monitoring system has developed into a system that measures data in telecom circles. That is presented to the government. You cannot get into that easily at the district level. The entire system has to change,” said a senior official of a private telecom operator.
QoS has remained a priority for the regulator, with Trai chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti citing call drops as a key area of focus after taking charge in January.
The QoS standards are currently being updated and currently include network availability, accessibility of establishing connections, ease of maintaining connections and congestion at the connection point, with a range of sub-parameters. TRAI has set minimum benchmarks for this, over a period of one month in a fixed telecom circuit.
Tightening parameters
The TRAI Act, 1997 gives the regulator exclusive powers to ensure QoS, conduct periodic reviews and protect consumer interests. The company had last launched a consultation paper in 2016 that assessed network-related QoS for mobile phone services.
However, despite efforts to resolve the issue, the government had failed to take action based on the existing parameters, officials noted. TRAI monitors the performance of various services provided by CSPs by collecting a performance monitoring report (PMR) every quarter. It also conducts audits to assess the performance of TSPs against the prescribed QoS benchmark through independent bodies.
Officials said TRAI will also convene a meeting on the issue next month. During their previous meetings on the issue, the TSPs have cited factors such as poor quality of handsets and rampant use of unauthorized signal boosters and jammers, among others, as affecting the user experience.
The availability of sites in desirable locations, government institutions and public places, and the exorbitant fees charged by certain social agencies for creating infrastructure, which affect the effective rollout of infrastructure and quality of service, have also been noticed by the industry .
First print: April 2, 2024 | 12:22 pm IST