The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has directed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to examine whether any tariff plans offered by telecom operators incentivise call drops. DoT has also sought TRAI’s opinion on whether providing free calls for call drops can be made mandatory for all operators. This comes with a view to take stock of the rising issue of call drops. Telecom operators have dismissed this notion stating that due to per-second billing, they do not benefit on redialing numbers.

Meanwhile, the three telecom associations, Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), Association of Unified Telecom Service Providers of India (AUSPI) and Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) have requested DoT to take action on the recent sealing of 10 sites. According to the associations, MCD has been taking various coercive actions against telecom towers within their jurisdiction and have recently sealed several telecom towers without issuance of any show-cause notice or sealing orders to the concerned tower companies. Lack of towers and sealing of telecom towers has been cited as a key reason for deteriorating quality of service and call drops by several operators.