Call Drops To Cost Up To Rs. 10 Lakhs For Telcos; TRAI Issues Strictest Rules Ever
The penalty structure will worry telecom opeartors
When it comes to call drops, TRAI (Telecom Authority of India) means business.
A year after Supreme Court stopped TRAI from implementing their Re 1 fine per call drop protocol, a new penalty system has been announced, which is even more strict.
Under this new ‘grade based’ penalty, fine up to Rs 10 lakh has been proposed, which is applicable per circle, per quarter.
TRAI’s New Grade Based Penalty
In order to gauge and determine the penalty of call drop, TRAI has created three new parameters for calculating call drops:
- 90% of the towers in a circle should not have a call drop rate of more than 2%, 90% of the time
- 90% of the towers in a circle should not have a call drop rate of more than 3%, 97% of the time
- Records pertaining to radio link timeout (RLT) of more than 48 will have to be stored for more than 3 days, and shared with TRAI. RLD is a parameter, which is used for managing calls and as per some previous reports, some telcos are using this to mask call drops.
The Scope Of Penalty Under Grade Based System
Now, the interesting part: the penalty structure, which should certainly worry the telecom operators.
Under Parameter 1, here are the penalties applicable:
| Call Drop Rate | Penalty |
| 2-4% | Rs 1 lakh |
| 4-6% | Rs 2 lakh |
| 6-8% | Rs 3 lakh |
| 8-10% | Rs 4 lakh |
| Above 10% | Rs 5 lakh |
Under Parameter 2:
| Call Drop Rate | Penalty |
| 3-5% | Rs 1 lakh |
| 5-7% | Rs 2 lakh |
| 7-9% | Rs 3 lakh |
| 9-11% | Rs 4 lakh |
| Above 11% | Rs 5 lakh |
Now, if the violations continue for consecutive quarters, then the penalty levied would be 1.5 times that of the first quarter; and twice if the violation continues for 3rd quarter, subjected to a cap of Rs 10 lakh in a three month phase.
The reason why telcos should worry is that, the new penalty system focusses on a more granular level of observation and analytics, compared to circle-level focus which was applicable till now.
This means that the call drops would be highlighted even more, and the chances of penalty imposition would be even higher.
Will it improve quality of voice calls? Or telecom operators will oppose this new penalty system as well? Do let us know by commenting right here!
