New Delhi: Taking a stern view of the ongoing connectivity dispute between existing operators and Reliance Jio, regulator Trai today warned of action in case of service quality violation as it asked all service providers to submit information on congestion levels in their networks.
Acting on a complaint from Reliance Jio on alleged refusal of incumbent operators to allow mobile number portability (MNP), Trai has asked the operators for a clarification on the issue.
"Today, we have decided to seek information from all telecom service providers (TSPs) as to what is the level of congestion on their PoIs," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Chairman R S Sharma told reporters here on the sidelines of an event organised by the Tower And Infrastructure Providers Association (Taipa).
He added that Trai has asked them to furnish the said data from September 15-19, detailing how many calls were attempted and how many of them failed on a daily basis.
"That will determine level of congestion at PoIs," he said. Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio has accused incumbent players -- Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular of providing less than the required number of PoIs needed to complete calls, leading to 75-80 per cent of calls failing between Reliance Jio and other networks. The existing operators had argued that the new entrant has unleashed a tsunami of "asymmetric" traffic on their networks.
According to the current regulations, not more than five calls out of 1,000 can fail at PoIs. "Therefore, we would like TSPs to ensure PoIs don't drop calls and that quality of service norms on PoIs is maintained," he said.
Sharma said Trai will give operators "a couple of days" to furnish the data on PoI congestion for the five-day period and then it will "determine what action can be taken".
He, however, declined to comment specifically on the action being mulled by the regulator. "There is a regulation of Trai on what should be the quality norms on congestion at the network port and if that regulation is violated, then we will have to take action against the party concerned," he said.. On MNP, Sharma said TRAI had received a complaint from Reliance Jio with regard to refusal of Mobile Number Portability facility by existing operators.
"We have asked the concerned operators to tell us what the facts are. Some operators have given us the information and in case of some others, we are still awaiting (the information)," he said, adding that TRAI will take action based on whatever inputs it receives.
Reliance Jio had complained that Airtel was blocking the mobile number portability (MNP) facility for its subscribers who wished to switch to Jio's services. "We are clear in our minds that customer convenience, quality of service and protection of customer interest is very important.
Therefore, in all areas like quality of service, congestion and interconnectivity, we will take a serious view," he said. Sharma added information on MNP "pertained to factual details of the situation".
"We will certainly act quite fast. We have given them couple of days to submit this information to us on PoI congestion. We will get that information and take appropriate action," he pointed out.
