Hardly any penalty on call drops: Minister reveals TRAI action details

In response to a question raised by Rajya Sabha MP Sanjeev Arora from Ludhiana, Union Minister of State for Communications and Rural Development, Dr Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar, provided an update on financial penalties imposed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for service providers failing to meet call drop benchmarks in the past three years.

The Minister’s response revealed no financial disincentives were imposed on major service providers, including Airtel, BSNL, MTNL, RJIL and VIL, during the fiscal years 2021-22 and 2022-23. However, in FY 2023-24, MTNL faced a penalty of Rs 1 lakh for not adhering to call drop-related benchmarks.

Dr Chandra Sekhar highlighted the number of non-compliance instances had decreased notably over the years. According to the data, the year-wise instances of non-compliance were as follows: 2021-22 (8 instances), 2022-23 (0 instances), 2023-24 (1 instance) and 2024-25 (1 instance).

Additionally, the minister pointed out TRAI regularly conducts consumer outreach programmes through its regional offices to educate the public about their right to quality telecom services. TRAI also facilitates the registration of consumer organisations, promoting awareness through various consumer awareness initiatives across the country.