This is with reference to the report, "From January, call drops can dial up to Rs 3 per day for you" (October 17). Although the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's direction to cellular operators to pay compensation of Rs 1 per call drop subject to a maximum of Rs 3 per day will offer relief to subscribers, whether this would push the operators to provide uninterrupted call facilities remains to be seen. Service providers will have to bear huge cash outflows and this will hurt their bottomlines. This will force them to gradually raise tariffs and ultimately the burden will be borne by subscribers.
At this juncture, the government needs to ascertain the real problems and get involved in troubleshooting. While the government has mobilised a huge amount of money through the spectrum auction it is imperative that it also provides adequate infrastructure to operators to build more towers. If call drops persist even after operators have been provided basic amenities, then they should be asked to compensate subscribers.
V S K Pillai, Kottayam
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