Parliament Question: Call Drop and Poor Mobile Network Connectivity

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS LOK SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 623 ANSWERED ON 22ND JULY, 2026 CALL DROP AND POOR MOBILE NETWORK CONNECTIVITY 623. SHRI MANI A: Will the Minister of COMMUNICATIONS be pleased to state: (a) whether the Government is aware of the persistent call drop and poor mobile network connectivity issues reported from several rural and semi-urban areas of Dharmapuri district in Tamil Nadu, affecting students, farmers, small businesses and emergency communication, if so, the details thereof; (b) whether any district-wise assessment has been undertaken to identify the reasons for frequent call drops, including network congestion, inadequate telecom tower infrastructure, handover failures between cell towers and restrictions on installation of new telecom sites in Dharmapuri, if so, the details thereof; (c) whether the Government proposes to direct telecom service providers to strengthen mobile infrastructure by installing additional towers and upgrading network capacity in the district, if so, the details thereof; and (d) the timeline and other measures proposed to ensure uninterrupted and reliable mobile connectivity for residents of Dharmapuri district? ANSWER MINISTER OF STATE FOR COMMUNICATIONS AND RURAL DEVELOPMENT (DR. PEMMASANI CHANDRA SEKHAR) (a) Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) monitors the performance of service providers against the benchmark of various Quality of Service parameters, as prescribed in Quality of Service (QoS) Regulation. As per Performance Monitoring Report published by TRAI for the month of May 2026 for mobile services, all the service providers are meeting the benchmark of all network related QoS parameters in Tamil Nadu License Service Area which includes Dharampuri District. (b) TRAI conducts Independent Drive Tests (IDT) and Operator Assisted Drive Tests (OADT) regularly for assessment of mobile network performance and the results are published on TRAI website. (c) Telecom Service Providers periodically assess their network coverage and improve connectivity by optimizing the existing network and by installing new Base Transceiver Stations (BTSs) as per techno-commercial feasibility. (d) Government has undertaken several initiatives under Digital Bharat Nidhi (DBN) for provisioning of 4G mobile services in identified uncovered villages/ locations across the country including Dharampuri District. So far, 11 mobile towers have been installed under 4G saturation schemes for providing mobile services in 19 villages of the Dharampuri District. ***** 1