Prime Minister Narendra Modi has expressed serious concern over the call drop menace and directed officials to address it urgently even as the government came down heavily on mobile operators, saying they cannot escape their "responsibility and accountability".
Reviewing the status of mobile connectivity in the country at a high level meeting, Modi observed that the call drop problem directly affects the common man.
Expressing serious concern over the problem, he asked officials as to what was being done to address it and directed them that steps be taken urgently to resolve it.
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The Prime Minister also asked the officials to ensure that the problems in voice connectivity do not extend to data connectivity in the future, a PMO statement said.
Meanwhile, Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said, "Whatever the government is required to do, government has done and will do more. But what is required of the telecom operators, must be done by them."
With call drops becoming a cause of concern for the entire country, mobile operators need to rise to the occasion and they cannot escape their "responsibility and accountability", he said.
Prasad said he wants to tell the operators that while the work done by them in the spread of mobile telephony in the country has been appreciated, they have to find solutions including the public sector bodies as to why the whole problem has become rather serious in the last 3-4 months.
"The answer has to be discovered by them. The remedial measures have to be taken by them and response has to come from them," he said.
Asked about Modi's intervention on the matter, Prasad said if there is a problem, it certainly goes to the Prime Minister. "The Prime Minister conveys his concern and we execute his concerns in a proactive manner."
The problem of call drops has worsened in the recent months. Telecom operators have cited shutting down of mobile towers and radiation fears, as also lack of spectrum, as the major reasons for call drops.
Earlier in the day at an event in Greater Noida, Prasad sked mobile operators to optimise the networks and reinforce their systems even as he promised full support on policy front including on installation of towers.
