The Department of Telecommunication (DoT) has asked the telecom operators to take steps to optimise radio frequencies in their networks and analyse the reasons for call drops. The operators have to report back to the government on the action they have taken to deal with the matter by July 31, 2015.
The department has also asked mobile operators to install more sites, adopt in-building solutions and augment existing frequency resources to reduce call drops. The move comes in the backdrop of the telecom ministry ordering a special audit of service parameters focused on network performance for checking call drops. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has laid down the benchmarks for call drop rate to be less than 2 per cent. Only Bharti Airtel meets the benchmark in Mumbai with a call drop rate of 0.97 per cent and Tata (CDMA) in Delhi with 0.84 per cent. The audit reveals that most of operators are not meeting the benchmarks of network related parameters due to high block call rate, high drop call rate, low call setup success rate and poor Rx quality.
