CIOInsider India Magazine

Indian telecom operators have voiced complaints in TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) over its new stringent QoS (Quality of Services) norms. Representing Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea, and Reliance Jio, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) argued that the network quality regulations will impose excessive burdens without addressing the challenges that operators face on the ground. The telecom regulations mandate stricter service quality benchmarks, increased penalties for non-compliance and more frequent reporting requirements. TRAI’s new regulations are believed to be effective from October this year. The industry has noted that despite telecom regulations impact happening over the years, they believe that real-world problems are still present. Here is what is believed to happen with the industry and customers with TRAI’s telecom guidelines.

This year saw a massive outage of internet services affecting customers of Reliance Jio, who were figuring out why they were unable to connect to the internet. Shortly after that Airtel customers also complained the same issue in massive numbers. First affected people from Mumbai to Bhopal and then the entire country, especially big centers and metropolises like Indore experiencing the brunt of it.

For two days, customers could not access social media, OTT platforms, and other online programs. On the other hand, these connectivity issues meant hindrance for businesses that use cloud-based applications like Salesforce or Microsoft Office.

TRAI has been trying to sort out these issues to find better ways to serve customers and has been closely keeping an eye on telecom companies. As a measure to enable telecom companies to enhance the quality of their service, it introduced "The Standards of Quality of Service for Access and Broadband Services, 2024" regulations. Under these new rules, both broadband services and mobile access services are covered.

What the New Rules Mandate
These rules are believed to take over the previous one for broadband, wireless data services, basic and mobile services starting October 1, 2024. Furthermore, this upgrade attempts to keep up with modern technologies such as high-speed fiber broadband, 4G, and 5G, offering top-notch service even while telecom technology advances quickly.

Telecom service providers are required to improve their network performance and increase transparency to avoid fines under TRAI's new QoS regulations, which include the following:

Penalties for Poor Performance
The first attempt at infringement by a telecom company would mean a fine payment of Rs 1 lakh, Rs 2 lakh for the second, and Rs 3 lakh for any further offenses, provided they go against the quality criteria.

Fines for False Reports
In case of submitting a fake report, the company will be fined up to Rs 2 lakh for the first fake report, Rs 5 lakh for the second, and Rs 10 lakh for any additional false reports regarding its performance if it files false reports.

Penalties for Missing Reports
Failure of submitting performance reports could have telecom companies accountable for fines of up to Rs 5,000 per day, with a maximum of Rs 10 lakh.

The New Rules Also Replace Three Previous Regulations
The new rules demand telecom providers reimburse amounts to postpaid customers and extend the validity of connections for prepaid users during district-wide network outages. These are granted, given the network outage lasting more than 12 hours in a day. Within a week of resolving the issue, postpaid customers must receive the repayment amount, and prepaid customers must receive extensions for outages longer than 24 hours. However, these refunds or extensions are not applicable to network outages caused by natural catastrophes.

Secondly, the regulatory body has imposed a thorough cell-level performance monitoring. This is said to track parameters like voice packet loss rates in both uplink and downlink, call drop rates, and network availability. The central goal of TRAI's granular performance data collection and analysis is to hold service providers responsible for the quality of services provided to customers.

Thirdly, the updated QoS requirements of TRAI are a big step towards protecting consumer rights and ensuring reliable telecom service throughout India. The new rules give consumers affected by service interruptions real compensation while improving accountability and transparency. Following the implementation of these rules, telecom companies will have to put customer trust and avoid heavy fines first.

Telecom Service Providers’ Response
The COAI has raised concerns about the new QoS regulations by the TRAI, implying that telcos are already making every effort to offer their consumers high-quality network services. They are also actively addressing network concerns through cutting-edge technologies and automation tools, such as AI-driven analytics and predictive maintenance. It also mentioned about significant efforts being taken to fiberize towers throughout India, which is an essential step towards the effective rollout of 5G services.

The body did note that there are still problems at the ground level, though. Permissions for Right of Way (RoW) and other non-telco-related issues including persons deploying illegal boosters and repeaters, telecom equipment theft, and more are problematic. These problems also play a part in the decline in the caliber of services that clients receive.

The new, stringent Quality of Service (QoS) rules from TRAI have angered private telecom providers. They think that without offering their clients any real advantages, these regulations will only make them more expensive and burdensome to deal with legally.

Moreover, telecom firms emphasize that real-world difficulties persist in spite of TRAI's more stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements. The right of way (RoW) difficulties on both public and private land make it difficult for them to obtain the essential licenses for infrastructure development, such as the installation of fiber optic cables and cell towers. Businesses such as Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel, and Reliance Jio contend that no other authority in comparable economies has enforced such stringent regulations.