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Department of Telecom

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Seeking comments on TRAI’s Consultation Paper on Compensation to the Consumers in the Event of Dropped Calls

Start Date :

Sep 09, 2015

Last Date :

Sep 22, 2015

00:00 AM IST (GMT +5.30 Hrs)

Submission Closed

In the past one year, consumers, at various fora, have raised the issue of call drops, complaining that their experience of making voice calls has deteriorated. In order to assess ...

In the past one year, consumers, at various fora, have raised the issue of call drops, complaining that their experience of making voice calls has deteriorated. In order to assess the problem, TRAI, in the months of June/ July, 2015, conducted special drive-tests on certain routes of Mumbai and Delhi, in which, it was found that Call Drop Rates of most of the telecom service providers (TSPs) were higher than the permissible limit of ≤2% set by the Authority. TRAI has prescribed financial disincentives on TSPs for failure to meet the quality of service benchmarks (including call drop).

TRAI is of the view that the problem of call drops needs to be examined in its entirety and requires adoption of a multi-pronged approach. It is also considering to make it mandatory for the TSPs to make periodic disclosures about (i) their network capacities and (ii) the steps taken to optimize their networks to address the problem of call drops. On the lines of drive tests undertaken in the cities of Mumbai and Delhi in June/July, 2015, the Authority would be conducting such drive tests across various cities in the country. While several steps are being contemplated, the Authority cannot remain a silent spectator to the problem of call drops encountered by the consumers.

In this background, TRAI has issued a consultation paper and has solicited comments with appropriate justification on the following issues:

Q1: Do you agree that calling consumers should not be charged for a call that got dropped within five seconds? In addition, if the call gets dropped any time after five seconds, the last pulse of the call (minute/second) which got dropped, should not be charged. Please support your viewpoint with reasons along with the methodologies for implementation.

Q2: Do you agree that calling consumer should also be compensated for call drops by the access service providers? If yes, which of the following methods would be appropriate for compensating the consumers upon call drop?

(i) Credit of talk-time in minutes/ seconds
(ii) Credit of talk-time in monetary terms
(iii) Any other method you may like to suggest.

Please support your viewpoint with reasons along with the methodologies for implementation.

Q3: If the answer to the Q2 is in the affirmative, suggest conditions/limits, if any, which should be imposed upon the provision of crediting talk-time upon call drop and usage thereof.

Q4: Is there any other relevant issue which should be considered in the present consultation on the issue of call drops?

Through this forum of My Gov, TRAI invites the comments of stakeholders on the above issues by 21st September, 2015.

Consultation Paper on Call Drops

Press Release regarding Consultation Paper on Call Drops

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Showing 508 Submission(s)

koleshwar mahto 10 years 10 months ago

Telecom companies should be fined heavily if there are maximum number of call drops instead of giving monetary compensation to public consumer. We should see that the problem is resolved and zero defect on quality of calls (call drop) and find solution rather than getting accustomed to the problem. For Major telecom companies giving monetary compensation to the consumers is not a big deal. It will just add 1% to 5% burden on their revenue.

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Manikanth Koganti 10 years 10 months ago

1 Answer: Here in my view postpaid customers are at heavy loss as the postpaid plans will deal with Minutes say for example 399/- plan of some operator gives 500 Local minutes + SMS+ Data, where if call gets dropped within 5 seconds it cost 1 minute for them. So I want the Operator to check the itemised bills and have a proper check for number of call dropped within 5 seconds and reverse the charges imposed on customer with tax. for prepaid customers anyway charges depends on number of second

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Abhishek Kumar Patel_2 10 years 10 months ago

Well Known truth Better USE of Spectrum Will be Only in Using CDMA for Voice Services

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Satej Karandikar 10 years 10 months ago

When you need to make four calls instead of one 60 seconds call, the telecom operators are putting their hand in your wallet and overcharging you. We need to stop call drops in the first place. It is just fair to not be charged for call drops or be given compensation for the same. #TRAI#CallDrops#MyGov

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Rishikesh Samant_1 10 years 10 months ago

In a service industry each piece of a service is associated with a charge. In this case dropped call is a symbol of bad service and hence the charges associated to it must be refunded to the customer OR the customer is not charged for what could not utilized. This should apply to VOICE and DATA equally.

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Ravi Hugar 10 years 10 months ago

Call Drops has been a menace for long in the Telecom Arena. Yes, the Service Providers should not charge for the Call Drops, instead they should credit back the Talktime or the Amount to the Customers. This is a clear principal of "No Charges for No Services". Simple!!.

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Rajeev Bhargava_1 10 years 10 months ago

In fact the telecom companies should pay back double the sum they charge for a call apart from not charging for call drops. They should be punished for their wrong doing. In foreign countries they themselves immediately deduct the full amount of the call if they feel the voice quality was bad leave alone CALL DROP. Why should a customer made to pay for a service he had been denied.

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Abhishek Kumar Patel_2 10 years 10 months ago

5.CDMA Technology should be use in india to reduce the call drop issue. 6.Its well known the capacity and call quality in CDMA technology is better than other technology. 7. CDMA coverage is much better as compare to other technology and similarly call drop will reduce in cdma technology as compare to others

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JAYA RAO 10 years 10 months ago

I hope call drop includes internet connectivity. If not net connectivity is to be included. Telecom companies are just adding new customers without considering the available infrastructures. When issue raised about problems, they are boasting that network congestion due to more number of users. Heavy penalties should be imposed on them and effected customer need to be compensated suitably. At the same time Govt. need to impose restriction on revision of tariff.

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Binayak Bhattacharjee 10 years 10 months ago

Any call drop should not be charged whether it's for 5 seconds or longer. It should act as a deterrent for the telcos rather than an incentive to customers. As soon as the call is dropped, an SMS should be sent by telcos informing the user that the dropped call would not be charged. TRAI should also levy a penalty amount on the telco that reaches a certain maximum limit of call drops in 30 days period. Illegal tower removal also adds to call drops and should be enforced through a policy .

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