Even as the telecom subscriber base is increasing, congestion in telecom networks is also increasing. The number of points of interconnection between two networks having congestion has increased from 389 in December 2006 to 499 in March 2007, according to a survey by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). This means that there are more call drops when a subscriber calls from one network to another.

As per Trai direction in 2005, all service providers are required to provide interconnection on the request of the interconnection seeker within 90 days of the applicable payments. The government-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) had gone to TDSAT against this direction. “The matter is pending with the tribunal, therefore, the authority is unable to issue show cause notices in cases of non-compliances,” said the regulator.

The congestion parameter signifies the ease with which a customer of one network is able to communicate with another of different network. The benchmark notified by Trai in the QoS Regulation of July 2005 says the congestion level should be below 0.5 per cent or one in every 200 calls should face jam.

Trai survey, however, shows that for the January-March period shows that the performance of the mobile operators with respect to the congestion on Points of Interconnection (PoIs) has deteriorated in March, compared to the performance in December, 2006.

The non-metro and tier B and C class cities are the worst affected areas and among the metros Kolkata suffers most. The circles or states badly affected due to PoI congestion are Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, North East, West Bengal, UP (East), Orissa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu and Jammu and Kashmir, Trai said today in its latest network congestion report for January-March.

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