Mobile network congestion worsening: TRAI

New Delhi--This is a not a good news for the mobile users. Mobile users can expect frequent call drops and poor quality of voice as there has been an increase in the number of cities where the levels of network congestion are twenty times more than the specified standards.

According to a report released by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), the number of cities where the congestion level is 10 per cent higher than the benchmark has gone up to 153 cities in August compared to 85 cities in the previous month. The reason for the congestion is primarily inefficient and inadequate interconnection between operators. "TRAI has been monitoring the provision of interconnection between various operators. The result of the monitoring reveals that in a number of areas, the degree of congestion between the operators is alarming," a press release here said.

As per the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulation issued in July, the benchmark for the inter network congestion level for an acceptable QoS is less than 0.5 per cent. In a number of cities, the level of congestion between the networks of private operators and the BSNL network is far more than this benchmark and the number of such places are increasing, TRAI said.

The congestion in the network is also on account of less number of base stations, inadequate spectrum and inadequate junctions between the two networks and this leads to frequent blocking of calls, call drops and poor voice quality, consequently providing poor quality of service to the subscribers. TRAI had issued a direction on June 7, to all the service providers to provide interconnection on the request of the interconnection seeker within 90 days of the applicable payments made by the interconnection seeker.

The worst affected locations where congestion level on point of interconnections (POI) between private operators and BSNL is more than 40 per cent are Alanpur (94.81 per cent), Mehasana (84.76 per cent), Bhavnagar (79.14 per cent), Jalandhar (86 per cent), Sikar (42.06 per cent), Asansole (55 per cent), Kharagpore (51 per cent), Agra (55.65 per cent), Bijanore (64.02 per cent).