According to a report by LocalCircles, about 32 per cent mobile service subscribers do not have coverage for the majority of their day despite paying for 4G/5G services and 69 per cent of those surveyed are facing call connection and drop issues on a daily basis. As per the study, only 26 per cent of mobile services subscribers have good voice coverage at their home for all the existing operators while 5 per cent said their workplace has good voice coverage for all the three operators. Besides, about 20 per cent subscribers face connectivity issues for over 50 per cent of their voice calls.
LocalCircles, in late January 2023, met the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) leadership to discuss a series of consumer issues ranging from 5G service experience to pesky calls/SMS, rampant call drops to fixed line issues. Subsequently, TRAI called a meeting with mobile phone operators on February 17, 2023, to discuss the quality of wireline and wireless services. LocalCircles shared with TRAI the findings of its survey on 5G services, including that only 16 per cent of mobile subscribers, who had switched to 5G, have indicated an improvement in call connection and drop issues. Meanwhile, TRAI noted that 5G infrastructure will mature eventually and will be 15-20 times by the end of 2023. However, service quality of 4G was a concern that it is working to address with the operators.
