Despite mounting pressure from telcos including threat of legal action, communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said the penalty for call drops announced by the regulator Trai will be
Despite mounting pressure from telcos including threat of legal action, communications minister Ravi Shankar Prasad on Thursday said the penalty for call drops announced by the regulator Trai will be implemented as per schedule.
“The telecom operators may have a point. But for the government what is more important is customer interest... there is therefore no question of going back on the proposal to penalise telecom companies for call drops,” Mr Prasad told reporters. The minister did not elaborate, though.
It can be noted that Trai on October 16 slapped Rs1 penalty on telcos for every call dropped, to the utter chagrin of the operators who have for long been blaming call drops to the lack of spectrum availability. Trai said mobile users will get a compensation of Rs1 for every dropped call from January 1, even as the operators cried foul saying the new rules can cost them nearly RS 150 crore a day. However, this would be provided to a subscriber for a maximum three dropped calls in a day.
