According to a study by the Department of Telecommunications (DoT), the call drop menace has been improved in Delhi. The Telecom Minister, Ravi Shankar Prasad said on Wednesday that, even the drop situation in Delhi has improved, the telecom operators are yet beyond the quality benchmark set for mobile telephony services. The Minister expressed his happiness towards the improvements in call drops situation in the period between July to October but, the telecom operators still need to work to make their network better and provide better network services for all the users.

In an attempt to upgrade the quality of telecom services, particularly the issues regarding call drops in Delhi, the Government on Wednesday said there have been some improvements over the past few days. To improve further, the Government would soon install more number of towers in buildings such as Parliament.  As there is a lot more scope for further improvement in lessening the call drops issue, necessary steps have to be taken, said Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad.

More Scope for Further Improvements

Telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said that after the interference of the government, the mobile operators have taken steps to spruce up the telecom network. The minister shared the data based on a survey by TERM cell, the vigilance and resource monitoring arm of the Department of Telecom. The data showed that call drop situation on the mobile network has improved, but the operators are still beyond the quality parameters set for call drops.

“Call drops situation has improved between July-October period. I am happy with the improvement, but telecom operators still need to work to make their network better,” Prasad told reporters in New Delhi.

An official from the Department of Telecom (DoT) has confirmed that the telecom operators have added 2,092 new mobile sites for 2G and 3G operations in Delhi. With the addition of more number of mobile towers in Delhi considerably reduced the call drop rate. Due to network-related faults, not more than 2 percent of the calls made on a telecom operator’s network should fail or disconnect automatically as a benchmark. Call drop on the network of the country’s largest operator Bharti Airtel improved from the range of 2.92 – 17.77 in August to 0.08-2.98 at the end of October.

Vodafone, which is the second-largest mobile network operator in India has announced that the menace of call drop rate is reduced 0.3-2.97 percent from 1.53-6.63 percent in Delhi. Reliance Communications also shared their data as it had earlier a call drop rate in the range of 1.53-24.83 percent. Now, it has eventually come down to 0.02-5.15 percent. Idea Cellular also experienced more number of call drops and now it has decreased to 0.14-2.65 percent from 3.34-10.90 percent. All these tests were  conducted by the Term Cell in Delhi on various roots.

“I have also asked MTNL to improve the situation in Lutyens Delhi and surrounding area. They have installed 26 sites for 2G and 12 for 3G. I have also asked MTNL to improve network at Parliament building. It is heritage building and needs various permissions. I have asked them to install IBS there,” Prasad said.

The minister said that New Delhi Municipal Corporation has also agreed to offer its premises for installing mobile towers and the Department of Posts has also been asked to provide space at Post Offices for installation of towers. Prasad said that situation has improved because of additional installation of mobile towers, repairing of non-functional cell sites and improvement in network design. The minister said that state-owned BSNL and MTNL are also taking necessary steps to address the call drop issue.