NEW DELHI: Broadband service providers Videsh Sanchar Nigam Ltd (VSNL), Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL), Airtel, Asianet and Hathway, in the South and West, have failed to meet the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) benchmark on service-provisioning and activation time.
Among the good boys are Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL), Sify, Ortel, Himachal Futuristic Communications Ltd (HFCL), You Telecom and Hathway (North). These findings were part of the first assessment of the quality of broadband services by the Trai.
So far, only mobile-service operations have been monitored by the regulator. Year 2007 was declared as the year of broadband by former communications minister Dayanidhi Maran. Although there are 51 broadband service providers in the country, 11 players command 98% of the total subscriber base.
Trai focused on these 11 service providers for the survey. As on March 31, there were 23.39 lakh broadband subscribers in the country.
Those not able to repair at least 90% of faults by the next working day in broadband services are VSNL, MTNL, Sify and Hathway (South). Airtel has met the benchmark for fault repair by the next day in all circles, except in Karnataka. Others passing this test include BSNL, HFCL, You Telecom, Asianet, Ortel and Hathway (West and North). Billing performances, refund time and response time to the customer for assistance and service availability were also monitored by the regulator.
Interestingly, most of the top internet service providers (ISPs) were able to meet the quality benchmarks. As for service-activation time, all ISPs met the benchmark of six hours. On time to access, all ISPs, except two, failed to meet the benchmark.
On the probability of accessing the ISP node, all service providers are able to meet the benchmark. ISPs are required to maintain the parameter of 80% for the first attempt, 90% for the second attempt and 99% for the third attempt.