TRAI may give telcos time
for upgrading their IT systems
The
telecom sector regulator is open to granting more time to telecom operators for
upgrading their IT systems to comply with the new and tighter reporting rules
on base tower stations, officials aware of the matter told ET.
Telecom
operators are holding consultations with officials from the Telecom Regulatory
Authority of India (TRAI) regarding the new rules that have come into effect.
Since a large amount of data has to be submitted and the format is also
different, the industry needs some time to upgrade their systems.
"We
are open to hearing suggestions from the telcos and if they need some time to
upgrade their IT systems," an official said on condition of anonymity. The
regulator, however, will not give any concessions on the rules.
Trai
on April 26 announced stringent reporting rules around base stations, asking
operators to provide granular details like site location, radiating frequency,
backhaul connectivity, technology utilised like 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G and the time of
commissioning of a site, as it looks to improve the quality of service (QoS)
and address the problem of call drops. The operators were against the
regulator's move to seek such granular data.
"We
are not asking for any confidential data. The telcos track all this data at
their network operations centres, and they just need to submit that to us. It
can be done in an automated way," another official said.
The
regulator feels that the quality of service in telecom needs to be better and
accountability has to be fixed. When telcos start reporting the details around
base tower stations, the regulator will be in a better position to track the
fault lines.
As
per the new rules, telcos must provide exact details of a tower site in a
district or town, or village as mentioned on the local government directory.
Earlier, the data used to be submitted on the telecom circle level.
Companies
must provide all these details within 21 days of the end of a quarter.
Currently, they are not required to provide details such as the date of
commissioning of a base station and if the site is connected by fibre or not,
and details of 5G base stations and cells.
Improving
QoS has been the topmost priority of TRAI as there have been rising instances
of call drops. When Anil Kumar Lahoti took charge as TRAI chairman in January,
he said more stringent regulation and implementation were needed to check the
instances of call drops.
Currently,
QoS is measured at the telecom circle level and even if a few sites remain down
for a long time, the outage does not get captured in the data as it averages
out. If the accounting is at a district level, the data will be more granular,
and telcos can be penalised in case even a few sites remain down for long,
officials said.
www.economictimes.indiatimes.com dt. 07-05-2024