Trai rejects telecom operators' view on call drops

Rejecting telecom operators’ contention that questioned its call drop report, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said on Tuesday it will conduct another test in April and it may add more cities in the report this time.

“My sense is whatever test drive we have done, they have been done very objectively and in a transparent manner. If there are any more suggestions for transparency, we are certainly ready to look at it,” Trai chairman R S Sharma told reporters on the sidelines of the India Digital Summit.

“Typically, we have been doing them (call drop tests) in three months. Approximately, in another three months, it will be done again. Sometime in April. This time, we covered seven cities. We will cover those seven and if required, we will extend it to more cities,” Sharma said.

The Trai recently released its findings on the call drop tests carried out across seven cities in December and January.

Most telecom operators, including the state-owned MTNL, failed the tests, which were conducted to check quality of the network and services as part of Trai’s efforts to rein in the call drop menace.

Telecom operators, however, questioned the tests conducted by Trai. Airtel, Idea and Vodafone asked Trai not to publish the same as they claimed there is a huge variation between its findings and their reassessment.