Congestion among cell operators alarming: Trai

 "The results of data monitoring for June and July reveal that in a number of areas, the degree of congestion between the operators is alarming. In a number of cities, the level of congestion between the networks of different operators is far more than the notified benchmark," the regulator said in a statement today.

 This kind of clogging was leading to severe drop in service quality including a high rate of call dropping, Trai added.

 According to data released by Trai, private telecom players like Reliance Communications (including Reliance Telecom operating GSM services) have congestion at maximum number of point of onterconnection (PoIs) at 204 followed by Bharti Airtel (158) and Tata (81) during July.

 While Hutch-Essar has congestions at 24 PoIs, Idea Cellular had congestions at 39 locations.

 MTNL, operating only in Delhi and Mumbai, emerged as the most efficient operator having no congestion at any of its PoIs, Trai said.
The benchmark notified by Trai is less than 0.5%, which means out of 200 calls between two operators, only one call should face congestion problem.

 The PoI congestion report analysis for the month of May to July shows that the number of PoIs having congestion has reduced from 616 in May to 537 in July.