6 Major Myths About Dropped Calls

It's a problem affecting the common man, as the PM said. Here's getting to the root of call-drops.

- Meetu Jain

This report is about 2,000 words long. You could speak it out in 12-14 minutes. But if you were to read it out over a mobile, depending on your service provider and the city you’re in, you’d end up making five to eight calls. Welcome to the world’s biggest call-drop nation—that’s what some are calling India—as networks across the country snap under the growing weight of calls and data.

The problem has plagued cellphone users for more than six months, but the authorities are finally acting—if almost a month after Prime Minister Narendra Modi expressed concern at the extent of the problem and demanded corrective steps. There could be relief in sight as watchdog Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) imposes penalties and forces operators to pay compensation for call-drops. As for operators refusing to toe TRAI’s diktats, its chief R.S. Sharma says, “That’s a call we have to take: if we pass the orders, they will have to comply.” Already telcos, who had been given two weeks to get their act together, have been told their time is up. An open house on October 1 was to discuss penalties that could be imposed and compensation that could be given to customers. TRAI has also been conducting independent tests in Delhi, Mumbai and five other metros to diagnose the problems. And in what could expose the telcos, Sharma says a fact paper analysing telecom operations and deficiencies is being made public. Here are six major myths dispelled:

MYTH 1: Spectrum congestion

REALITY: The problem owes chiefly to non-optimal use of spectrum