Hardly any Penalty on Call Drops: Minister Reveals TRAI Action Details

Ludhiana, February 13, 2025: In response to a question on `Call Drop Penalties’ asked by MP (Rajya Sabha) from Ludhiana Sanjeev Arora in budget session of Rajya Sabha, the Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar has provided details of financial disincentives imposed on service providers by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for non-compliance of drop call related benchmarks for the last three years.

As per the details, no financial disincentives were imposed on service providers Airtel, BSNL, MTNL, RJIL and VIL during fiscal year 2021-22 and 2022-23. However, during FY 2023-24, financial disincentives worth Rs.1 lakh were imposed on MTNL. 

In a statement today, Arora said the Minister further mentioned in his answer that the number of non-compliance cases against the benchmarks for call drop parameters have been reduced significantly over the years. The Minister also provided the instances of non-compliances of service providers against the benchmarks for call drop parameters over past three years. As per the data, the year-wise instances of non-compliance against call drop benchmarks were as under 2021-22 (8), 2022-23 (0), 2023-24 (1) and 2024-25 (1).

Further, the Minister mentioned in his answer that TRAI undertakes Consumer Outreach Programs through its Regional Offices to make aware them about their right to quality network services. TRAI also undertakes registration of Consumer Organizations for helping in spreading the awareness among telecom consumers through various consumer awareness programs conducted across the country.

Following mechanisms are available for consumers to report about complaint of call drops:
•    Consumers can lodge complaints at the complaint centre of the concerned Service Provider. In case a complaint is not redressed satisfactorily by the service provider at the complaint centre, an appeal can be registered with the Appellate Authority of the Service Provider.
•    The complaint can also be lodged in Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) portal for redressal.