Communications and IT Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, has ordered telecom companies to fix call drop issues and stop making excuses about not having enough spectrum. He even added that mobile operators must put in extra efforts to reinforce their infrastructure and deliver better quality telephony services. There was also an ‘or else…’ attached to his statement.
Prasad revealed that he has asked TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) to present suggestions for a disincentive mechanism which can be used to make network providers comply with the order. He did not go so far as to confirm if telecom companies would be fined for not fixing the problem of call drops. But there are rumors in the air about the ‘disincentive’ being a financial one.
According to a post on PTI, Prasad does not agree with service providers’ claims about not having enough spectrum since a lot of it remained unsold at the auction in March 2015. The government earned Rs 109874 crores from the deal, while consumers have been facing the onslaught of rising data prices since then, as well as the looming threat of anti-net neutrality laws being passed.
Back in April this year, TRAI Chairman Rahul Khullar, announced that the body was working to introduce new service quality benchmarks mobile operators would be required to follow in order to avoid strict penalties. Nothing along these lines has materialized as yet. Apart from talking about call drops, Prasad also touched on the subject of revising merger and acquisition (M&A) guidelines.
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The Department of Telecom is supposedly meeting stakeholders with regards to this and will come to a decision about the recommendations after considering their suggestions. Another problem being faced by the telecom industry has to do with campaigns against mobile tower installations owing to health concerns. But the Minister does not think call drop issues should be put in the same box.