Parliament Question: Quality of telecom services

GOVERNMENT OF INDIA MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS DEPARTMENT OF TELECOMMUNICATIONS RAJYA SABHA UNSTARRED QUESTION NO. 4329 TO BE ANSWERED ON 02ND APRIL, 2026 QUALITY OF TELECOM SERVICES 4329 SMT. RAJANI ASHOKRAO PATIL: Will the Minister of Communications be pleased to state: (a) whether Government has reviewed the quality of telecommunication services across the country; (b) the number and nature of complaints received regarding call drops, network outages and data quality, State-wise; (c) the penalties, fines or enforcement actions imposed on telecom service providers for failure to meet prescribed service quality standards; (d) the monitoring mechanisms, audits and performance benchmarks employed by the Department of Telecommunications to ensure compliance; and (e) the reasons as to why service quality continues to remain inconsistent across regions, particularly in rural and remote areas and the steps proposed to improve network reliability and customer satisfaction nationwide? 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 (QoS) parameters. TRAI has revised QoS Regulations namely "The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024 (06 of 2024)' on 02.08.2024 prescribing benchmarks for various QoS parameters effective from 01.10.2024. (b): State-wise details of number and nature of complaints received in Centralized Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) Portal are attached as Annexure-I. (c): The details of financial disincentives (FD) imposed (in Rs. Lakhs) on Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) for non-compliance of QoS parameters are as follows: 1S. N. Months Bharti Airtel Bharat Sanchar Mahanagar Reliance Jio Total Vodafone Limited Nigam Limited Telephone Infocomm Idea Nigam Limited Limited Limited 1 April-25 8.00 7.00 11.00 3.00 6.00 35.00 2 May-25 4.00 8.00 4.00 6.00 8.00 30.00 3 June-25 6.00 4.00 8.00 8.00 6.00 32.00 4 July-25 3.00 1.00 6.00 0 8.00 18.00 5 Aug-25 2.00 6.00 7.00 0 3.00 18.00 (d): TRAI monitors the performance of TSPs against the benchmark of various QoS parameters, as prescribed in QoS Regulation by collecting License Service Area (LSA) wise Performance Monitoring Report (PMR) from service providers on regular basis. The (PMR) are published on TRAI website. Wherever the QoS benchmarks are not met, the explanation of the concerned TSP is called for and after considering the response, financial disincentive are imposed on service provider for non-complied QoS parameters. (e): As per PMR for the month of February 2026, all TSPs are meeting the benchmark of all networks related QoS parameters of access service (wireless) in all the LSAs. Further, Government has taken several measures to enhance mobile network infrastructure and improve the quality of communication services in the country: i. Uncovered villages are being provided coverage under various Digital Bharat Nidhi schemes. ii. Assignment of sufficient spectrum for mobile services through auction. iii. Spectrum sharing, trading and surrender has been permitted for efficient use of spectrum. iv. Simplification of Procedure for SACFA (Standing Advisory Committee on Radio Frequency Allocations) clearance. v. Notification of Telecommunications Right of Way (RoW) Rules and launch of PM GatiShakti Sanchar portal has resulted in streamlining of RoW permissions and expeditious clearance for installation of telecom infrastructure. vi. TRAI has revised QoS benchmarks on 02.08.2024 applicable from 01.10.2024 for various parameters, and performance of service providers against the benchmark is regularly monitored by TRAI to ensure better quality of services. 2Annexure-I Details of complaints received in CPGRAMS Portal during FY 2025-26 Name of State/Union Network Data Grand S.No. Call Drop Territory Coverage Quality Total Andaman And Nicobar 1 2 26 4 28 Islands 2 Andhra Pradesh 39 356 108 395 3 Arunachal Pradesh 3 36 8 39 4 Assam 28 478 117 506 5 Bihar 122 1,362 595 1,484 6 Chandigarh 3 41 17 44 7 Chhattisgarh 42 397 145 439 Dadra and Nagar Haveli and 8 0 2 1 2 Daman and Diu 9 Delhi 32 681 175 713 10 Goa 4 31 9 35 11 Gujarat 103 1,280 406 1,383 12 Haryana 45 553 208 598 13 Himachal Pradesh 15 162 46 177 14 Jammu And Kashmir 20 246 92 266 15 Jharkhand 59 439 140 498 16 Karnataka 1,634 7,810 2,328 9,444 17 Kerala 35 419 117 454 18 Ladakh 0 3 0 3 19 Lakshadweep 0 2 0 2 20 Madhya Pradesh 45 877 350 922 21 Maharashtra 116 1,628 428 1,744 22 Manipur 0 4 7 4 23 Meghalaya 1 35 16 36 24 Mizoram 0 7 1 7 25 Nagaland 0 6 2 6 26 Odisha 93 684 222 777 27 Puducherry 0 21 6 21 28 Punjab 217 823 176 1,040 29 Rajasthan 158 1,090 441 1,248 30 Sikkim 0 1 1 1 31 Tamil Nadu 65 632 158 697 32 Telangana 19 228 67 247 33 Tripura 19 135 70 154 34 Uttar Pradesh 294 3,935 1,412 4,229 35 Uttarakhand 155 363 158 518 36 West Bengal 249 2,007 717 2,256 Grand Total 3,617 26,800 8,748 30,417 *** 3