In a stern message to telecom operators, Department of Telecom (DoT) on Thursday said the industry can't give excuses like problems in installing mobile towers for rise in call drops and asked them to get their act together to tackle the issue.
Telecom Secretary Aruna Sundararajan said that the Department of Telecom (DoT) will meet the industry on the call drop issue as soon as TRAI’s assessment report comes out on quality of mobile services, benchmarked to the new call drop parameters.
“The Government is very concerned about call drop and service quality. We want to convey to the industry that the situation can't continue and they have to take corrective steps at the earliest,” Sundararajan said, adding that the meeting with industry would take place after January 21.
Acknowledging that mobile operators do face difficulty in setting up towers at times, given resistance from people, she said that it cannot be cited as an excuse for call drops.
She asserted that investments will have to made by telecom companies in upgrading infrastructure.
The industry, on the other hand, has been citing radiation emission scare and delay in permissions as hurdles in setting up mobile towers.
DoT has also taken up the issue around rolling-out of telecom infrastructure in states, she said, adding that “the industry has to get its act together. They have to earmark more investments into infrastructure”.
Terming telecom infrastructure as a “fundamental enabler”, Sundararajan said that the matter will be taken up with States.
She said spectrum scarcity can no longer be cited as a reason for call drops given ongoing consolidation in the industry.
TRAI’s new and more stringent call drop rules came into force from October 1 and the quarter ended December will see the first instance of reporting under the new formula.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has already asked the operators to submit their network-related data for checking service quality under the new benchmarks and the deadline is January 21.
“The industry has to put more investments into infrastructure. If they say that data is growing five times, then you have to upgrade the infrastructure. Also, for operations and maintenance, there is tremendous scope for improvement,” she noted.
As per the new rules, the telecom operators may face a maximum penalty of Rs 10 lakh for call drops which will now be measured at mobile tower level instead of the telecom circle level.