Congestion Very High, Warns TRAI

Congestion in mobile operator networks has reached alarming proportions, according to a study conducted by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).

Resulting mainly from an increase in the overall mobile subscriber base, congestion is leading to frequent loss of calls and overall poor quality of service, the regulator said.
However TRAI was quick to add that it cannot initiate action against mobile service providers because the matter is subjudice.

While TRAI's benchmark for network congestion is less than 0.5 percent, which translated means that for every 200 calls between any two mobile operators, only one call should suffer from congestion problems.

But TRAI's study found that in almost 499 locations in the country, congestion levels are much higher than the desired limit.

Particularly Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, North East, West Bengal, East Uttar Pradesh, Orissa, Gujarat, Karnataka, Kolkata, Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, and Jammu & Kashmir were found badly hit by severe congestion by TRAI.