Call drops issue: TRAI's new portal to give info across locations

Telecom regulator has launched a new portal that allows mobile users to check the level of call drops, network coverage and call quality of telecom operators across India. “It is a transparency portal where consumers will get information on all parameters of quality of service (QoS) including call drops, coverage or call quality,” TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said at the launch of the portal. The information would be available on the URL -  http://analytics.trai.gov.in. “The information will be available in different granuality… overall, at an aggregate level and even down to the tower level. Consumers, in a particular location, can see the number of towers around the area, see the call drop rate, and what is the performance of individual service providers on different parameters in that area,” he said. For instance, a mobile subscriber living in, say, Connaught Place (in New Delhi) can get information on the towers of individual service providers, and see the level of call drops for each tower. At a Pan-India level, the portal also provides information on network utilisation trends, BTS density, and call drop trends. The move would benefit telecom service providers too who can measure their performance against other operators, Sharma said. “It will bring about transparency in the network performance. Consumers can see for themselves how the call drop situation has changed,” he said. Sharma said that such information given by the service providers to TRAI, as is it, gets audited and that the process would continue even for the data placed on the site. “This data was being received earlier also. The only difference is that data is being received digitally and electronically from service providers so the delay is much less. Second, it is now being put up in a visual form on the portal to give a clear idea on what are the quality of service parameters for various service providers,” Sharma said. He said that regulator will soon launch another initiative that would help measure call quality satisfaction level of people. “We are saying that consumers should be able to grade the calls…let people say what they feel about the call quality,” he said adding that it would provide a fair idea of the service quality that telecom operators are providing. It would measure the experience of people in the voice world, he said. Sharma said the QoS portal would enable consumers to make informed choice about their service providers, based on the network information provided on the site. The issue of mobile call drops and poor quality of services has irked consumers across the country. Earlier this year, the regulator’s attempt to make it mandatory for telecom companies to compensate subscribers for call drops came a cropper when the Supreme Court struck down the Trai regulation terming it “arbitrary, unreasonable and non-transparent”. Taking note of the public discontent over the poor level of service quality, TRAI has recently started the overhaul of quality norms for mobile services. Last week, it came out with a consultation paper that proposed stricter quality norms for local areas and imposing graded financial disincentives for poor services. In July, TRAI sought public opinion on setting up of an ombudsman in the sector, for speedy resolution of rising subscriber complaints over issues such as wrong billing and poor service quality. PTI