Telcos find fault with Trai tests

New Delhi: Questioning regulator Trai’s drive test results showing worsening call drop situation, telecom operators on Thursday said that the issue is limited to area where there are problems in installing towers. “Given the limited coverage of these drive tests, the results show problems limited to the known problematic areas where the industry faces issues in obtaining cell sites,” said COAI.

Citing the test results, the telecom regulator had asked the government amend the law to give it penal powers forcing telecom companies to reduce call drops. The association said that the Trai report clearly shows a majority of the call drops happening in the four areas of Central Delhi, Dwarka and IGI airport, Gurgaon and Manesar and Noida and Mayur Vihar.

It said that Delhi IGI airport has large areas of defence property and only recently has the minister of communication and IT  opened up defence land for setting up of telecom infrastructure. “Another area where call drops were seen as out of parameter is Central Delhi. Here again, this is a known problem area and the industry is involved in ongoing deliberations with NDMC for Central Delhi and with MCD for other parts of Delhi, for installation of towers,” said COAI. It said that resolution of the call drop problem in the known difficult areas is not through the imposition of penalties but a constructive partnership between the industry, telecom ministry, urban development ministry and local municipalities to facilitate and hasten the approvals of required cell sites.

COAI said that the drive test and its results do not cover all the cell sites but only a limited amount of the telecom circle. “While the area of Delhi NCR is 46,208 square km, these results are limited to a route covering 600 km only. Hence the  quality of service (QoS) results from the drive test are not strictly comparable with the standard QoS for dropped calls regularly published by Trai for the entire service area,” COAI said. It said that the industry is concerned that the publication of results by Trai, before resolving the outstanding technical and measurement issues, leads to erroneous conclusions by citizens.