A notice to telephone operators from trai

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued showcause notices on network congestion to cellular operators including Bharti Tele-Ventures, Tata Teleservices, Reliance Infocomm, Reliance Telecom, BPL Mobile, and Spice Communication. TRAI stated that in the quarter ended December 2005, the networks of these operators had registered an increase in the number of point of interconnections (PoIs) having congestion more than the 0.5 percent benchmark.
Hutchison-Essar, Bharat Sanchar Nigam, Mahanagar Telephone Nigam, and Idea Cellular were not sent notices since according to TRAI, their networks did not show a similar increase in congestion vis- -vis the TRAI benchmark. Post studying the performance of various cellular mobile service providers in the quarter ended December 2005, TRAI found that though there had been some improvement in meeting prescribed standards as regards service quality, the performance of most operators had deteriorated in respect of PoI congestion. The regulator expressed the view that looking at the state of affairs, it was obvious that either service providers had not taken necessary steps to reduce the time period for provision of interconnection as laid-down in the interconnection agreement; or they had not approached the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) to resolve the dispute - if any, regarding effecting a reduced time period for augmentation of interconnection. On November 29, 2005, TRAI had issued a directive to all cellular operators asking them to ensure that by December 31, 2005, all service parameters including levels of PoI congestion, would be brought within TRAI benchmarks. Before that, a study through July to September 2005 had shown that PoI congestion was more than prescribed benchmarks in almost 364 locations; the figure rose to 398 by end December.