Centre to ensure quality mobile network services, says Manoj Sinha

Mumbai: Amid concerns on falling service quality of mobile operators resulting in inconveniences like call drops, Union telecom minister Manoj Sinha on Thursday said the government will "ensure quality service" for the subscribers.

"The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has issued standards recently. Government will ensure that quality service is given to the consumers," he told reporters here. However, a query on penalising erring operators did not result in a direct reply.

"We will ensure there is good service quality," the minister said, when asked about penalty. There have been multiple reports of call drops faced by the countrys nearly 1-billion mobile users and falling quality standards and the sector watchdog has also been seeking to improve the quality. Sinha was talking on the sidelines of the second 5G India conference organised by the Department of Telecom.

When asked about reports of the government mulling another round of spectrum auctions, he said the ministry is waiting for recommendations from Trai and will then decide the "appropriate timing." When asked if the government is in favour of IUC for messages, Sinha said it is the mandate of Trai and the watchdog is "considering" it.

Speaking at the conference, Special Secretary N Sivasailam said the country is on the "right track" for rolling out the next generation 5G services, saying an ecosystem will have to be built for the roll-out.

Reliance Jios managing director Sanjay Mashruwala pointed out that the country is far from rolling out the 5G services due to the lack of supporting pieces in the ecosystem.

Sivasailam said the government is planning to announce the new telecom policy next month, after receiving suggestions on the draft issued recently are released.