TRAI seeks report from telecom service providers about details on outages

Outages for a prolonged duration adversely affect the availability or quality of service in affected areas, it said

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has directed all telecom service providers to promptly inform them of any network outages and provide a detailed account of the root causes and subsequent corrective measures taken.

Information related to all incidents of major network outages affecting the telecom services to the entire consumers of a district (revenue district as defined by the Union/State Government) continuously for more than four hours, within twenty-four hours of their occurrence, in the format specified in the direction should be provided, the TRAI said.

The root cause of such major network outage and corrective actions taken thereof, within seventy-two hours of restoration of services, in the format specified in the direction should also be reported, said the TRAI in a statement.

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"It has been observed that incidents of major network outage of telecom networks occurring due to technical reasons or due to natural calamities are not reported by the Telecom Service Providers (TSP) to TRAI. These major network outages in the country for a prolonged duration, especially in border and hilly areas, adversely affect the availability or quality of service in affected areas," the regulator said.

To understand the root cause of major network outages and get relevant support from local authorities extended to the service providers if needed, the Authority has decided to collect the information about any such outage at the district level, the TRAI said in the statement.