New Delhi: The Department of Telecommunications<\/a> (DoT<\/a>) believes that the current quality of service (QoS) norms are outdated<\/a> and need to be upgraded in view of changes in technologies<\/a> with the launch of 5G.
The DoT, however, will leave it to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India<\/a> (Trai) to make the suitable changes and if the norms need to be strengthened.
“The norms are outdated and need to be upgraded. But the technical aspect has to be seen by Trai. We can only provide policy<\/a> support to enable improvement in services,” a top DoT official told ET.
He added that the department has already provided policy support with regards to right of way (Row) and offering enough spectrum to telecom firms.
In December, the DoT held a meeting with telecom and internet service providers, asking the companies<\/a> to improve quality of services, amid a rise in call drops and deterioration of service quality. Later, the DoT wrote to Trai regarding the issue and if the norms need to be strengthened.
The regulator is working on bringing out a consultation paper and is also meeting telcos on February 17 for a pre-consultative meeting on the QoS issue.
As per officials aware of the details, the DoT wants that QoS norms should be holistic in nature so that every aspect gets covered like call drops, completion of calls, down time of a particular site and time to resolve issues at customer<\/a> care.
There has been an increase in complaints about call drops and call failures, particularly as mobile operators shift to 5G. Both DoT and Trai are concerned at the rising service quality issues. While QoS is the mandate of the sector regulator Trai, the government too keeps an eye on service quality being the licensor.
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