DoT survey shows call drops problem persists

 Despite the claim by telecom operators that call drops have come down drastically, a survey conducted by the Department of Telecom (DoT) shows that a large number of mobile users are still facing the problems.

The DoT, which conducted the survey by automated call service between December 23 and February 28, 2017, to obtain direct feedback from subscribers, said about 2,20,935 subscribers participated in the survey, out of which, about 1,38,072 (62.5%) have reported call drops. 

“From the feedback it has been observed that the problem of call drops is more severe indoors. The feedback is shared with the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) every week for taking action in a time bound manner. The TSPs have set up an elaborate mechanism for using the IVRS feedback data sent by DoT,” said a statement. 

The DoT’s automated call service, or Integrated Voice Response System (IVRS), made over 16.61 lakh calls to subscribers of all telecom service providers across the country, the statement added.

Telecom firms are submitting action taken report (ATR) to Task Force constituted by the DoT every fortnight. Besides, the Task Force is also meeting with the TSPs once every month to discuss various issues related to the IVRS system. 

The DoT claimed that it is taking a number of steps to address the call drops problem and telecom service providers have installed about 2,12,917 additional BTSs (Base Transceiver Stations) across the country during the period from June 2016 to February 2017, the statement said.