Telecom authorities make collaborative efforts to enhance user experience

The government's Department of Telecommunications (DoT) and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), responsible for regulating the domestic telecom industry, said on Tuesday that they are taking collaborative steps to enhance user experience in terms of telecom services. Stating that several measures have already been initiated in this regard to ensure spam-free, quality telecom services with high-speed data flow, the ministry said it will gradually tighten benchmarks for key parameters like network availability, call drop rates, and packet drop rates. 

To curb the menace of spam calls, the telecom regulator has directed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities using bulk connections for spam calls, including robocalls and pre-recorded calls.

In the last fortnight, more than 3.5 lakh such numbers have been disconnected and 50 entities have been blacklisted, and around 3.5 Lakh unused or unverified SMS headers and 12 Lakh content templates blocked, the ministry said. 

The telecom department launched a citizen-centric platform, Sanchar Saathi, to fight cyber fraud, enabling citizens to report suspicious calls and messages.

Till date, more than one crore fraudulent mobile connections disconnected with the help of Sanchar Saathi. Also, as many as 2.27 lakh mobile handsets have been blocked for involvement in cybercrime or financial fraud, the statement added. 

In parallel, with an objective of improving the network performance, benchmarks are to be gradually tightened for key network parameters like network availability, call drop rates, packet drop rates, etc.

Also, the authorities said that the revised telecom regulations under the Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024 (6 of 2024) will will come into effect from October 1, 2024.

From April 1, 2025, a monthly monitoring of QoS performance of mobile service will be started instead of a quarterly basis.

The communications ministry shared the revised QoS benchmarks of a few important parameters under the new regulations, as follows: 

The telecom regulator also issued consultation papers on provisions of immediate suspension of services of unregistered telemarketers on receipt of complaints beyond a pre-defined threshold number, and implementation of proactive detection and action on suspected spammers.

The telecom regulator and the telecom department have been engaged continuously towards enhancing telecom services and security in the country, through policies, ensuring infrastructure development, quality of service, and complaint redressal.