DNA Money Edit: In age of 5G, how long for call drops?

The quality of services in the telecom sector has nosedived since past few years. Mobile users face frequent call drops, low voice quality and patchy network areas with almost all service providers.

Despite efforts by the government and Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), the issue is far from resolved. Earlier this year, telecom operators together committed an investment of Rs 74,000 crore for setting up and upgrading infrastructure.

Trai, last year, came out with new norms for assessment of quality of services, where call drops will be measured at the mobile tower level instead of telecom circle. Under the new rules, telecom players may face a maximum penalty of Rs 10 lakh for call drops. But many operators are yet to submit data for October-December 2017 quarter under the new norms, which has forced the regulator to issue showcause notices to them. The response to the notices will determine the next action of the regulator.

The new norms came in after Trai unsuccessfully tried levying a penalty of Re 1 on telecom players for every call drop in 2016. This measure was struck down by the Supreme Court.

The issue of call drops comes when the telecom industry is facing financial stress. The entry of the new player Reliance Jio has created a disruption in the sector, where consolidation is underway and four players are expected to remain in the fray – Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea combine, Reliance Jio and BSNL/MTNL. All stakeholders need to work together for solving the issue as it can become a hindrance in economic progress, especially when 5G technology is knocking on the doors.