With almost all operators failing to comply with quality of service parameters during a recently audit conducted by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), its Chairman R. S. Sharma on Wednesday asked operators to take i >mmediate measures to address the issue. He added that their performance would be reviewed in 15 days to measure progress achieved.
Mr. Sharma on Wednesday met the CEOs of telecom firms, including Bharti Airtel’s Gopal Vittal, Gurdeep Singh of Reliance Communications and Idea Cellular’s Himanshu Kapania.
“I have told them after 15 days we will have another test drive in the city of Mumbai and Delhi and we will also have data relating to other places. So we will measure if there is any improvement in the situation or not,” Mr. Sharma said.
During the meeting, the TRAI Chairman said the company CEOs were >appraised of the previous test drive results , in which almost every operator was falling short of prescribed standards.
An audit done by an independent agency in Delhi and Mumbai in the month of June and July, on behalf of TRAI, had found that operators such as Vodafone, Idea, Reliance and Airtel failed to meet quality of service norms, especially on the parameter of mobile call drops. The survey found that Tata (CDMA) in Delhi and Bharti Airtel in Mumbai are the only service providers meeting the benchmark of less than 2 per cent call drops.
Meanwhile, at a separate event Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that the government was presently not thinking of imposing any penalty, but that option could not be ruled out if the situation does not improve.
Asked if > penal measures will be taken if the operators did not show improvement in their networks, Mr. Sharma said the TRAI would cross the bridge if required.
“We will cross the bridge when we need, but I don't have any reason to disbelieve the operators (as yet). They are saying that they are making serious efforts to improve the situation, so why should I presume that situation will not improve,” he said.
