The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has today issued its Consultation Paper on ‘Review of Quality-of-Service Standards for Access Services (Wireless and Wireline) and Broadband (Wireless and Wireline) Services’’

The TRAI Act, 1997 mandates the Authority to ensure the quality of Service to protect the interest of the consumers of telecommunication services. Accordingly, TRAI notified following regulations for Quality of Service (QoS) Standards for telecom services.

1. 1. “The Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (Wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone service regulations, 2009

1. 2. Quality of Service of Broadband Service Regulations 2006 and

1. 3.  The Standards of Quality of Service for Wireless Data Services Regulations 2012. These regulations have been amended from time to time based on induction of new technologies like 4G.

The TRAI has been receiving number of complaints from the subscribers regarding call drops and other network related issues especially after rollout of 5G services. Upon detailed analysis of quarterly QoS performance reports, the Authority has noted that due to long performance assessment period of a quarter over a large area like LSA, there may be pockets or areas experiencing poor quality of service due to averaging effect while service providers are meeting overall QoS benchmark at LSA level.

Accordingly, to have a closer view of the status of QoS, the draft regulations propose monthly QoS performance reporting at State and UT level in addition to at LSA level.

The QoS parameters and benchmarks for voice and data services are technology agnostic in present regulations. The relevant terminology for 5G services has also been updated in draft regulations to monitor QoS performance of 5G.

As 4G and 5G networks are providing much wider coverage in the country compared to the 2G and 3G networks, the stringent performance benchmarks, especially related to call drops, are preposed for 4G and 5G services to improve consumer experience.

The network availability is important requirement for good QoS. Therefore, the performance against service provider’s network availability is proposed to be monitored at State and UT level to ensure that consumer get uninterrupted services. 

To simplify regulatory framework for QoS, it is proposed to have single regulation dealing with QoS standards for all voice and data services irrespective of their access medium i.e., for both wireline and wireless services. Accordingly, present three regulations are proposed to be merged into single regulation.

In above context and to address all relevant QoS related issues in a holistic manner, the Authority is issuing this consultation paper for seeking ‘stakeholders’ comments. Written comments on the consultation paper are invited from the stakeholders latest by 20^th September 2023. Counter Comments, if any, may be submitted by 05^th October 2023.  The comments and counter-comments may be sent, preferably in electronic form on the email address adv-qos1@trai.gov.in.

The Consultation paper has been placed on TRAI’s website www.trai.gov.in. For any clarification/information, Shri Tejpal Singh, Advisor (QoS-I) TRAI may be contacted at Tel. No. +91-11-23236516.

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