Telcos worried over strict quality of service norms, fear hike in cost load

Telecom QoS

Private telecom operators are unhappy with the stringent Quality of Service (QoS) regulations as they fear it will raise their cost and compliance burden without commensurate benefits to customers.

Telcos such as Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea said that these QoS parameters prescribed in the new regulations have not been introduced by any other regulator in other similar economies.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) issued the new quality of service (QoS) regulation, the Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wireline and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024. It will take effect on October 1, replacing the decade-old QoS regulations.

The new rules mandate the telecom service providers to ensure better network performance and transparency. Under the new rules, penalties for non-compliance with each QoS benchmark start at Rs 1 lakh. A second offence raises the fine to a maximum of Rs 2 lakh, while for subsequent offences, it will be Rs 3 lakh per benchmark.

Submitting false compliance reports will incur fines of up to Rs 2 lakh per benchmark, Rs 5 lakh for a second instance, and Rs 10 lakh for subsequent instances. Telcos failing to submit compliance reports will be fined up to Rs 5,000 per day, with a maximum penalty of Rs 10 lakh.

“The industry expresses concern over the proposed regulations, which not only tighten benchmarks but also shift from quarterly to monthly reporting and site to cell-level reporting in many cases,” said SP Kochhar, director-general of the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI).

"While we are disappointed with the stringency of these new regulations, we remain committed to engaging constructively with Trai on QoS-related matters," he said.

While Trai has tightened the QoS benchmarks over the years, the ground realities remain unchanged. Kochhar said that the telcos still grapple with the Right of Way (RoW) issues when acquiring permissions for infrastructure deployment in public and private land to install cell towers and fibre-optic cables.

“The situation is further aggravated due to the additional requirement of street furniture for the 5G networks. Moreover, interference from various sources, such as other wireless devices and electromagnetic interference, degrade signal quality and network performance. Further, illegal boosters and repeaters used by unauthorised agents, as well as cases of equipment theft, are external factors that, nevertheless, impact the QoS,” the executive said.

COAI, representing all three private telcos, said the authorities' frequent takedown of overhead fibre significantly impacts the Quality of Services (QoS). It added that the telcos have limited control over these external sources, adversely impacting the QoS.

The new regulations mandated the operatiors to publish detailed mobile coverage maps on their websites showing 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G coverage, allowing consumers to make informed network choices. Additionally, they must regularly disclose the QoS performance metrics online.

The regulator also introduced granular data metrics, including latency, jitter, packet drop rate, and network availability, which will now be monitored monthly, instead of quarterly. This will enable faster identification and resolution of network issues. The telcos will have six months to transition to monthly reporting.

COAI said its member telcos have consistently invested in enhancing the Quality of Service (QoS) through significant improvements in network infrastructure, resulting in greater stability and reliability.

So far, they have adopted advanced technologies and automation tools, including predictive maintenance and AI-driven analytics, to address network issues proactively. Major initiatives are also underway to fiberise towers across India, which is crucial for efficiently deploying the 5G services.

“Our member organisations will continue to strive for excellence in service quality while advocating for regulations that recognise the practical challenges faced by our industry,” Kochhar said.