Tighter quality of service norms for telecom service providers on the cards

The government is preparing the ground for much tighter quality of service (QoS) norms for telecom service providers (TSPs).

It intends to improve telecom services at a time when the country is quickly adopting 5G technology.

The department of telecommunications (DoT) will soon send a consultation paper to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on the matter with a higher number of QoS parameters, officials said.

“Initial discussions on the issue have already been completed and the department will soon be sending a formal proposal to TRAI,” an official said.

The much-awaited updated norms will be announced via executive orders once TRAI sends back its inputs on the matter, they said.

The TRAI Act, 1997 authorises the regulator with exclusive powers to ensure QoS, conduct periodic reviews and protect consumer interests.

It had last launched a consultation paper, reviewing network-related QoS for cellular mobile telephone services back in 2016.

The new QoS norms will effectively aim to eliminate call drops, poor voice and data connectivity.

“At a time when massive strides are being made in bringing 5G technology to India, and with TSPs ramping up their infrastructure, it is unacceptable that a large number of complaints over quality issues continue to come in, even from major urban areas,” a senior official said.

However, despite attempts to rectify the issue, the government had been unable to act on it based on the existing parameters, he pointed out.

This is because the TSPs have continued to mostly meet the benchmark for most QoS parameters.

It is owing to averaging the performance for the entire service area. This comes even as a large number of consumers complain of poor quality experience.

The existing parameters include network availability, accessibility of connection establishment, ease of connection maintenance, and point of interconnection congestion, with a series of sub-parameters.

TRAI has set minimum benchmarks for these, over a one-month period in a fixed-service area.

TRAI had earlier pointed out that this performance average for the entire service area may give a different picture about QoS than what a customer sees. Many areas or localities within the service area see significantly worse service. As a result, a major tightening of the rules could be suggested by the DoT.

However, officials did not comment on whether they anticipate if such a crackdown will see a pushback by the TSPs.

Call drops

Back in 2015, the problem of call drops had become entrenched enough for the regulator to mandate a compensation of Rs 1 for each call drop users faced. It was through amendments to the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations.

Such credit was limited to three dropped calls in a day for a customer.

But following a legal challenge by the TSPs, the Supreme Court had struck down the regulations. Instead, it had asked TRAI to ensure that service providers provide the necessary funds for infrastructure development.

But officials add that despite much higher tower coverage across the country, deployment of better signal equipment, and more digitisation, the volume of QoS complaints have not gone down.

Enhancing experience

• DoT will soon send a consultation paper to Trai
• The new QoS norms will effectively aim to eliminate call drops, poor voice, and data connectivity
• The existing parameters include network availability, accessibility of connection establishment, ease of connection maintenance, and point of interconnection congestion