Call drops: Except Airtel, Vodafone, all telcos fail test, says Trai

All telecom operators, except 2G network of Airtel and Vodafone, failed to meet call drop benchmark in an independent drive test conducted by the regulator Trai.

"Other than Airtel & Vodafone in 2G, all operators failed to meet the Call Drop Rate benchmark," the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a report released on Monday.

Airtel too failed to meet the 2% call drop benchmark for its 3G network.

The 2% call drop benchmark means that not more than 2% calls made from a network should automatically disconnected in a telecom circle.

The regulator found call drop as high as 22.2% on state-run BSNL's 3G network in Bhopal.

"Idea, Reliance & BSNL all have Call Drop Rates in the range of 10% or above. These are exceptionally high and clearly indicate urgent need for improvement in order to deliver reasonable levels of service," the report said.

Trai also found Airtel, BSNL and Videocon Telecom using high level of Radio Link Timeout technology, which has been alleged being used for masking call drops, but said that the high parameters did not impact consumer experience in a substantial manner.

"Radio Link Timeout (RLT indicates how long the call can sustain during poor quality Higher the value the longer it will sustain the call). Airtel, BSNL and Videocon have set higher RLT Values. However, as the adjoining table shows, the impact of RLT in the Call Drop Rate is minimal in Bhopal," Trai said.

Telecom operators have committed to investing about Rs 12,000 crore to install around 60,000 mobile towers in next 100 days to improve call drop problem in the country.