As per the government, there has been a lot of improvement in call drops and improper telecom network coverage in the past three-four years.
Further, it added that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has introduced disincentives for telecom companies and has also imposed a fine of Rs 32.9 million. To this end, government has so far recovered Rs 25 million from the companies.
As per minister of communications and electronics and information technology, Sanjay Dhotre, the government has also introduced interactive voice response system from 35 million subscribers on call drops and feedback received from them, of which only 121,000 call drop problems have been found.
Meanwhile, in a written reply in Rajya Sabha, telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said TRAI has also introduced a revised graded financial disincentives (FD) structure for dropped-call rate (DCR) parameters which is effective from October 1, 2017. This is based on the extent to which a telecom service provider’s (TSP) performance deviates from the specified DCR benchmark.
As per the telecom minister, significant reduction has been observed in number of complaints pertaining to call drops/ improper network coverage received on centralised public grievance redressal and monitoring system (CPGRAMS) in Department of Telecommunications (DoT) during last three years. There were 4,534 complaints received in 2017 which are reduced to 1,678, 1,162 and 22 in the years 2018, 2019 and 2020 (up to 31st January, 2020) respectively.
The minister further said that the upgradation of the network, addition of cell sites, optimisation of the network at regular intervals and introduction of new technologies are some of the steps taken by the TSPs in order to improve network performance coverage and quality of service.
Meanwhile, Dhotre added that as part of the revival plan of Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), 4G services will be introduced from April 2020 onwards and preparations are on in this regard.
Meanwhile, the government said that around 76,359 jobs have been created in the telecom sector since 2018-19. While the total jobs created in the sector, 28,424 were direct jobs while 47,935 were indirect. Further, a total 40,445 jobs were created in 2018-19 and 35,914 jobs in 2019-20.
As per the government, job data was provided by major TSPs to the extent maintained by them.
The minister further added that the government under National Digital Communications Policy-2018 envisages creating 4 million additional jobs in the sector by 2022.
