TRAI's 2015 Initiatives: Call Drops, Per-Second Billing, and Cable Digitisation

In October 2015, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) convened a public Customer Outreach Programme to address pressing quality-of-service challenges amid explosive subscriber growth. With urban tele-density crossing 148 percent and rural connectivity expanding rapidly, regulatory oversight faced unprecedented scaling demands.

Tackling Call Drops and Billing Grievances

TRAI Principal Advisor S.K. Gupta highlighted the widespread consumer issue of dropped calls. In response to regulatory directives, major operators including Bharti Airtel and Idea Cellular shifted billing structures to per-second pulses rather than rounded-minute charges, ensuring users were not penalised for disconnected sessions.

National Cable TV Digitisation

TRAI also reported on the progress of nationwide cable television digitisation. Over 22 million digital Set-Top Boxes (STBs) had been deployed across metros and Tier-I cities in Phases I and II of the mandate. The transition from legacy analogue cable to encrypted digital signals improved transmission quality, expanded channel capacity, and established transparent tariff structures for millions of Indian households.