On Friday, telecom secretary J.S. Deepak said that for installing 60,000 towers to check call drops in India mobile operators have committed to invest about INR 12,000 crore. He seemed flippant of severe powers to control Trai and said that there cannot be one and final solution to this danger. In order to check call drops, Trai has demanded more freedom, which includes imposing on operators a fine of up to INR 10 crore and for the executives a jail term of up to two years for any violation of regulatory framework, prompting the companies to term such powers as ‘draconian’.
In response to the Trai’s demand, telecom secretary J.S. Deepak said, Business as usual cannot happen. I am not sure penal power will be one and final solution to this. In my personal opinion I do not agree that for every call drop a person has to be sent to jail. That’s my personal view. It is more sophisticated and more difficult. But we will take a view on what Trai has said. The secretary also said that to improve service quality mobile operators have committed to install 60,000 towers. After his first industry review meeting, Deepak told reporters Government believes in the telecom sector. The quality of service must improve and industry has responsibility. They have committed 60,000 towers. Each tower cost about INR 20 lakh which is around INR 12,000 crore. The industry will make this investment in next three months.
Regarding raised issues hampering improvement in the networks and for improving service quality each operator presented his 100 day plan. In the quarterly sample test conducted by Trai, most of the mobile service providers have failed frequently, but saying that they comply with benchmark set by the regulator the telecom operators have contested the results. In order to verify the call drop menace, earlier on Trai had directed operators to pay compensation to their subscribers for dropped calls.
