Quality better, but lot needs to be done on call drops: Trai

NEW DELHI: Most of the telecom operators have shown improvement in network performance although Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Aircel and Idea need to better their

NEW DELHI: Most of the telecom operators have shown improvement in network performance although Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Aircel and Idea need to better their call drop rate performance in Delhi-NCR, Trai said on Monday.

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According to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) ‘Independent Drive Test Report’ for May, there has been “general improvement” in the parameters used for measuring the quality of 2G networks in Delhi-NCR.

“However, in case of the call drop rate parameter, further improvement is desired,” Trai said. “Most operators have improved their network performance.”

In most cases of 3G network, the call drop rate has deteriorated in comparison to the previous drive test, the deterioration being highest in case of Idea, the regulator said. “In summary, the operators — Airtel, Vodafone, Reliance, Aircel and Idea - need to further improve the call drop rate performance, the CDMA operators and MTNL need to improve across all parameters, in order to offer acceptable levels of service,” the report added.

In Hyderabad, majority of operators failed to meet the benchmark of 2% call drops over the network. “Out of 14 networks tested, 11 do not meet the required benchmark for call drop rate.”

As per the report, Chandigarh is among the better performing cities where most of the operators met the call drop rate parameter with the exception of the 2G networks of Airtel, Videocon and BSNL.

“Airtel and Videocon are the only two operators who need to improve the quality of the network in Chandigarh,” it said.

In Bhopal, Airtel and Vodafone met the call drop rate benchmark in their 2G networks, while Airtel only marginally failed to meet the benchmark in its 3G network. Idea, Reliance and BSNL have call drop rates in the range of 10% or above.

“These are exceptionally high and clearly indicate urgent need for improvement in order to deliver reasonable levels of service,” it said.