Updated : Airtel, Rcom Most Congested Networks: Trai

[Honest 836]

Airtel, RCOM most congested networks: TRAI

25 Aug, 2008, 1936 hrs IST, PTI

Leading telecom service provider Bharti Airtel tops the list of most congested network followed by Reliance Communications, data from the TRAI revealed.

TRAI today released the PoI (Point of Interconnection) report for April-June quarter, which said amongst the private service providers Bharti Airtel has the largest number of PoIs having congestion (56 PoIs as of June) followed by Reliance Communications (22 PoIs), Dishnet Wireless (21 PoIs as of March), Vodafone (19 PoIs of March) and Idea (19 PoIs).

In order to ensure seamless interconnection, TRAI has been monitoring the level of congestion at the Point of Interconnection between various service providers on monthly basis.

This parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. This parameter also reflects as to how effective is the interconnection between the two networks.

The benchmark notified by TRAI in the Quality of Service (QoS) Regulation of July 2005 for this parameter should be less than 0.5 per cent. This means out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem.

The PoI Congestion Report analysis shows that the performance of the Cellular Mobile Service Providers with respect to the congestion on PoIs has improved in June, 2008, as compared with the performance in March, 2008.

The number of PoIs having congestion has decreased from 275 in March to 156 in June.

Out of these 156 POIs, the level of congestion in 86 POIs is more than 5 per cent as compared to 141 PoIs in March.

The circles/ states more affected due to PoI congestion are Bihar, Maharastra, Gujarat, Haryana, North Eastern states and Himachal Pradesh.

[srk006 21]

hmm.... AirTel is more than twice conjusted than RCOM. No wonder! It was a nightmare for me on AirTel network!

[@ksh@T 20]

well airtel is the MOST congested network . . i have ever used. . u cant make calls in evening. . . . atleast RCOM is 110% better than airtel . .BSNL is also same as airtel . .

[raccoon 53]

Airtel is by far the worst network I'v used... I can almost never get thru in the 1st attemts. At peak hrs its just useless... might as well not have a phone! Not to mention call drops and bad voice clarity...

I dont think even BSNL is that bad...

Best again is Idea. Its the largest network here... but least congestion... and best voice clarity... even better than RIM!!

RIM, in spite of being CDMA does not excel in any way... neither in voice clarity, nor congestion. But yes, its way better than Airtel... but only for voice calls.

Edited August 25, 2008 by raccoon

[savramesh 37]

TRAI, TDSAT exchange fire on quality of service

New Delhi, Aug 29, 2008 (Asia Pulse Data Source via COMTEX) --

In a strange situation, the two statutory authorities in the telecom sector - TRAI and TDSAT on Friday blamed each other for inaction against erring mobile operators over network congestion.

Appellate tribunal TDSAT today said it was not clear what was preventing Telecom Regulatory Authority of India from imposing quality norms on the service providers, as no stay was granted against the regulator's showcause notice to mobile operators.

In its latest report on network congestion, TRAI had said that "the sequence of events of the case would show that the appellant association (COAI) and its members have been enjoying the benefit of the TDSAT's observation that it expects parties not to proceed further after the matter has come before it."

"Therefore, the authority has not taken any further steps in furtherance of the showcause notices issued to the service providers in response to the said showcause notices," TRAI had said in the report.

"Because of the fact that even the latest congestion report has now become a part of the pending appeal proceedings, the Authority has been left with no option but to await the final decision of the TDSAT as the pending case has effectively tied the hands of the Authority from taking any steps... for ensuring quality of service," the TRAI said.

This apparently prompted TDSAT to take a strong exception: "Is this institution (TDSAT) standing in the way of improvement of quality services... We have no intention to do so".

The telecom tribunal made it clear that it never passed any stay order in the proceedings of qualitative services norms.

"No stay was granted by the tribunal in this matter... nothing prevents you from imposing quality of services," said the TDSAT bench headed by Justice Arun Kumar.

"On TRAI's contention, TDSAT had made observation that it expects parties not to proceed further after the matter has come before it," the TDSAT said that it was its oral observation and was not binding on the parties.

The tribunal also made it clear that it had no assistance of a technical member, expert on these issues, so it was unable to proceed on it.

Meanwhile, during the proceedings, counsel appearing for COAI informed the tribunal that now the situation was improving and network congestion was less as BSNL was giving them points of interconnection (POI) within 90 days. Interconnection between the telcos network is provided by BSNL.

On this, TDSAT bench said to COAI, "Put all facts on an affidavit containing factual position about improvement in the congestion and also about POI".

The tribunal also directed TRAI to file reply over COAI's submission, if it wishes and directed to list the matter on 1st October.

COAI had filed the petition, challenging TRAI's directive of March 20, 2006. Later, TDSAT made BSNL and MTNL as party in this suit by impleading them over allegation in delay over granting POI.

Edited August 30, 2008 by savramesh

[Honest 836]

^^^

@Savramesh

My dear friend, you didn't mentioned the source of the news. Please mention the source of the news while posting. Its mandatory as per the rules.

Regards.

[Honest 836]

TRAI’s report on congestion unfair, say GSM players

Business Line

GSM mobile operators have told the telecom regulator that its observations on high level of congestion on cellular networks were ‘unfair and unwarranted’.

In a report issued the Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India had said had said that the networks of Bharti Airtel and Reliance Communications were the most congested, but it could not take any action because the operators were taking refuge under an order by the telecom tribunal to maintain status quo on the issue.

In response, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) sent a letter to TRAI saying, “Whilst the Authority has appreciated the continuous reduction in the congestion levels, it has also made some unwarranted observations with regard to the pendency of our appeal before the Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal and has most unfairly and incorrectly contended that our members have been enjoying the benefit of the tribunal’s observations.”

The GSM operators said that compliance with quality of service benchmarks must go hand in hand with assurance of adequate, timely and effective interconnection, for which TRAI must play the role of a facilitator.

[raccoon 53]

Speaking about Airtel... its v difficult to get a local Airtel to Airtel call thru... esp. at peak hours... where does the POI problem come into the picture in that scenario???

[Honest 836]

^^^

My dear friend, even I'm facing the delayed SMS receipt from Airtel networks now a days. Many times when I send a SMS to my friend who's having an Airtel Connection, it will be delivered very late, say by 3-4 hours late. LOL.

Regards.

[kshah 452]

reliance I have not experience but aircel yes its much more congested than reliance

[Honest 836]

TRAI free to enforce quality of service: Tribunal

Business Line

New Delhi, Aug. 29 The Telecom Dispute Settlement Appellate Tribunal has said that it has not imposed any stay on the telecom regulator for ensuring that operators adhere to the quality of service norms.

The tribunal’s clarification comes in the wake of the comments by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India earlier that it could not punish operators offering poor quality of service due to the petition filed by the GSM players in TDSAT. GSM operators had filed the petition against a show-cause notice issued by TRAI in 2006.

While hearing the petition, TDSAT said, “Is this institution (TDSAT) standing in the way of improvement of quality services? We have no intention to do so.”

The tribunal said that it was not clear as to what was preventing Telecom Regulatory Authority of India from imposing quality norms on the service providers, as no stay was granted against the regulator’s show-cause notice to mobile operators.

Earlier this week, TRAI had said in its report on network congestions that the operators have been enjoying the benefit of the TDSAT’s observation that it expects parties not to proceed further after the matter has come before it. “Therefore, the authority has not taken any further steps in furtherance of the show cause notices issued to the service . Because of the fact that even the latest congestion report has now become a part of the pending appeal proceedings, the Authority has been left with no option but to await the final decision of the TDSAT ,” the TRAI had said.

[Honest 836]

Tata Tele network least congested, says Trai

3 Sep, 2008, 0246 hrs IST, ET

NEW DELHI: Tata Teleservices continues to have the least congested cellular network among all pan- India telecom operators, according to the latest congestion report by telecom regulator Trai. The regulator, after evaluating the network congestion for the period of April to June 2008, has said Tata Teleservices’ network has recorded congestion in only five points of interconnect (PoI) compared to 56 PoIs for Bharti Airtel, 22 for Reliance Communications and 19 for Vodafone Essar.

According to Trai, congestion at points of interconnection (PoI) should be less than 0.5%. This implies that out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem. Network congestion is the primary factor that results in call drops, poor reception and voice quality. Earlier, the Trai report on congestion for January - March 2008 also ranked the Tatas first and said the telco had only 10 congested PoIs compared to 83 PoIs of Airtel, 41 for Reliance and 43 for Vodafone.

Commenting on the landmark achievement, A G Rao, Chief Technology Officer, Tata Teleservices, said, “Today mobile customers are very discerning and they look for quality of service rather than just cost advantage. From crystal clear voice quality and minimal call drops our customers experience the advantages of being on Tata Indicom’s network. This report has further reiterated superiority of our network once again. This acknowledgment further reassures our customers and endorsers that we provide nothing except the best. It is a proud achievement of the extraordinary standards that we have set for our network. ”

India is the world’s fastest growing mobile market and adds over 9 million new customers every month. In order to ensure seamless interconnection, Trai has been monitoring the level of congestion at the PoI level between various service providers on a monthly basis. This parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. Trai’s PoI congestion report analysis for the month of April 2008 to June 2008 shows that the performance of telcos with regard to congestion has improved when compared to their figures for the March, 2008 period.

[Sadikk 301]

Congestion?? or lack of spectrum ??

Tata tele is least congested as they have less customers comparing to airtel and RM.

[Honest 836]

^^^

Very correct my dear Sadik Bhai. The day when TATA achieves the number of connections equivalent to Rcom or Airtel, then only we get to know whether TATA are the least congested or not.

Regards.

[HetalDP 947]

Congestion is at POI (Point of Interconnect) it has nothing to do with Spectrum But still Yes More the Customer More the Congestion Pron Network as Whole Indian Telecom Interconnect is based on Bilateral Agreement and not Third Party or Root Network is there to take care of.

[shashank 8]

How come BSNL is not in the most congested network list?????

It has one of the worst network not only in india but also in world i guess.

[raccoon 53]

Congestion?? or lack of spectrum ??

Tata tele is least congested as they have less customers comparing to airtel and RM.

Whatever the reason... a customer for who making/recieving calls is very important, is not bothered about whats the subscriber base of his telco, etc... and for him the telco with least congestion will make sense! Reasons/justifications don't matter... the telcos with higher subscriber base should have more spectrum and POI and whatever else that is needed... else they should not add new subscribers.

Edited September 3, 2008 by raccoon

[srk006 21]

How come BSNL is not in the most congested network list?????

It has one of the worst network not only in india but also in world i guess.

I too wonder. Its impossible to get a call through between 5:30 - 7pm on most working days through BSNL!

[vmsanghrajka 0]

Airtel, Vodafone have most congested networks, says Trai

NEW DELHI: GSM operators Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Essar have the most congested telecom networks, an analysis by Trai revealed. The regulator,

which has been monitoring the traffic on a monthly basis, said the congestion levels in 129 places during the quarter ended September 2008 far exceeded the permissible limits. But this is still a climbdown. There were 526 highly congested areas in year 2006 and 134 in the June 2008 quarter.

Network congestion leads to call drops, deterioration in voice quality and is the primary reason that drives consumers to repeat calls.

The regulator evaluates the congestion levels at the points of interconnection (PoI) where the mobile traffic is exchanged between networks belonging to different operators. These levels signify the ease of communication across networks. The regulator has set a benchmark of less than 0.5%, which means that one out of 200 calls between two operators should encounter congestion problems.

Source: http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...how/3948955.cms

[savramesh 37]

what about reliance? even they were known as congested network few months back..

[ipkonfig 10]

Reliance is on the third place along with Idea

http://economictimes.indiatimes.com/News/N...how/3948191.cms

[Harshal 11]

This will give them an excuse to demand more bandwidth, whilst the solution is obviously to install more towers.

[Honest 836]

Vodafone and Airtel are the worst congested networks.

[Himanshu Singh 19]

Only five telecom operators out of 11 have met the 90 percent quality of service benchmark set by the sector's watchdog, a survey released on Friday said.

nterestingly, the country's largest private operator Airtel is among the firms that failed to meet the benchmark of 90 percent that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has set for quality of service.

"Virgin Mobile topped user satisfaction in 2008 while players like Airtel, BPL, Idea, state-run Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Ltd (MTNL) and Spice fell short of the benchmark set by telecom watchdog TRAI," said the survey conducted by CyberMedia group's flagship communications industry monthly Voice&Data in association with JuxtConsult, an online research firm.

A sample of 1,318 mobile users in India was quizzed on various factors to determine overall user satisfaction.

State-owned operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) and Vodafone jostled for the second spot with scores of 91.96 percent and 91.97 percent respectively, the survey said.

The two other players to cross the TRAI benchmark of 90 percent are Reliance Communications and Tata Indicom.

Last year's top scorer Aircel slipped from 92.23 percent to 85.44 percent, according to the results released in Voice&Data's January issue.

"A side-effect of the scorching pace of growth of the mobile phones in India is the rapid drop in quality of service. Five major players - Airtel, BPL, Idea, MTNL and Spice - have yet to touch their previous best score achieved in 2005. This is a cause for major concern," CyberMedia's chief editor Prasanto K. Roy said.

The survey conducted during October-November 2008, recorded user satisfaction on five broad parameters - pre-sales and sales, network availability, value-added service (VAS), customer care, and billing.

Expectedly, all service providers exceeded the 90 percent user satisfaction benchmark on the pre-sales and sales parameter with Virgin Mobile topping the list followed by MTNL.

Users participating in the survey found BPL and MTNL's network performance most satisfactory with high scores of 98.2 percent and 97 percent respectively with Airtel and Idea just making the cut above the 90 percent mark.

On the VAS parameter, BSNL topped the charts with only Idea and Aircel performing below the TRAI benchmark, the survey said.

However, in the customer care parameter, none of the 11 players, including the topper Virgin Mobile, could muster enough support from users to get past the 90 percent benchmark.

In terms of billing integrity, the four toppers were Virgin, Vodafone, BSNL and Reliance, the survey said.

The average waiting time to speak to a customer care representative of Airtel and BSNL was 4.8 minutes. Idea and Spice customer have to wait an average of five minutes with a Vodafone customer having to wait for 5.2 minutes.

However, mobile services in metro circles improved in 2008 with all the operators, except Aircel, showing higher customer satisfaction and crossing the benchmark set by TRAI, the survey said.

Edited January 16, 2009 by sachinrocks

[Saurav 22]

VIRGIN is best, good handset, low call rates, Earn for receiving Calls.

A Virtual Free Calling Network.