Most telcos failed Trai's call drop test, improvement in Delhi

Most the telecom operators, including state-run MTNL, failed random tests conducted by TRAI to check tthe quality of their network and services, as part of its efforts to rein in the call drop issue. As per the test report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today, none of telecom operators showed improvement in call drops in Mumbai, Pune and Bhubaneswar.

"As per the drive test report, none of the operators is meeting the prescribed benchmark," TRAI said in the report. Telecom operators, however, questioned the tests. Airtel, Idea and Vodafone asked TRAI not to publish the report as they claimed there was a huge variation between tests conducted by TRAI and their own reassessment.

The regulator conducted drive tests during December- January this fiscal, on selected routes of seven cities -- Delhi, Mumbai, Pune, Surat, Bhubaneswar and Indore -- and shared the findings with telecom operators. As per the TRAI benchmark, not more than 2 percent of calls on a telecom operator's network should be automatically disconnected. The regulator conducted tests on both 2G and 3G networks of the companies. State-run MTNL was the worst performer in Mumbai and Delhi, where it operates. MTNL 3G network reported call drops at 15.58 percent level in Mumbai and 23.65 percent in Delhi. For Pune, call drops on Tata's 3G network was as high as 42.93 percent followed by that of Idea Cellular with 20.96 percent. The 2G network of Idea Cellular in Pune was also the worst performer in its category with 18.97 percent call drop.

Idea conducted its own test on the same routes and found its network compliant to quality norms, the report said. "Your (TRAI) own December DT (drive test) results are very different from September DT results. This huge variation is logically not possible when there were no major changes in Network...In view of the above, you are requested not to publish your report considering huge gaps in findings," Idea said in response to TRAI. In Bhubaneswar, where all operators failed tests, maximum call drop was witnessed on Aircel's 3G network and on RCom's 2G CDMA network. 

In Delhi, both Airtel's 2G and 3G network and 3G networks of Idea and Vodafone were compliant to call drop benchmark. Similarly, in Kolkata only CDMA network of MTS, Tata Teleservices and Reliance Communications (RCom) were compliant to call drop benchmark while other operators failed to meet the benchmark. Even GSM network RCom and Tata failed the test. The highest call drop of 8.86 per cent was noticed on BSNL's 3G network followed by 8.58 percent on Vodafone's 2G network here. 

Similarly only CDMA network of Tata Teleservices was compliant in Surat to call drop set standard while other failed. Maximum call drop in this city were noticed on Idea's 3G network. In Indore, 2G network of Airtel, Vodafone, RCom CDMA and Tata CDMA complied with call drop norms while other failed.  Here maximum call drops were witnessed on BSNL's network in 3G category and Idea Cellular's 2G network.