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| Technically 100 per cent call drop free network is not possible in democracies | | | Nikhil Gupta
Geographically cellphone towers cover areas in the form of a hexagon because this shape allows an equal coverage area to all points and this area is called a zone. Calls placed within each zone are handled by the tower. Now obviously when a cellphone device moves from one zone to another the call signals get handed off to another tower. Call Drops happen when the mobile device no longer has the signal strength that the tower can detect. The mobile phones work using radio waves in the frequency range of 300 MHz and 3,000 MHz. But the entire range is not available for use. Critically the lower the number the better the quality of transmisison. It makes sense for a Telecom Service Provider (TSP) to pitch for a 900 MHz band instead of 2,100 MHz or even 1,800 MHz. Since limited space is available in each band telecom companies jostle for more space in the better i.e. lower band. The lower radio bands such as 900 MHz need fewer towers to travel longer distances . There is a shortage of spectrum in key bands like 900 MHz and 1,800 MHz. Some telecom experts say that call drops can be addressed to a large extent through better management of spectrum but that can provide only partial relief. Call drops peak in high-congestion areas typically city centres. This means there is an unequal spread of traffic across the spectrum, which cannot be made good by diverting traffic on to an adjacent, underutilised spectrum. That would be a reflected light signal, with gaps in the voice akin to international calls at times. On the other hand these lower bands are very costly for the TSPs and now a days TSPs have to offer services in the higher bands . When TSPs offer richer services like 3G or 4G at higher frequencies such as 2,100 MHz or 2,300 MHz instead of 900 MHz then they need to install many more towers because higher bands need more tower support for operational efficiency . If a TSP has too little of the better bands the quality of voice service drops. It also drops if the number of subscribers rises. India has approximately 961 million mobile phone subscribers the most in the world after China. Too many TSPs are slicing up the available bands into smaller parcels. The mobile network towers are installed in a beehive like structure . Basically a tower is acting as a host for the call . The antennas installed on the towers have a range and so until a certain point only the call can be made from the cell phone through a tower . When the person is moving , and tower detects the signal strength has dropped below certain dB , it would start searching near by tower to 'transfer' the call to that tower . When this handshake fails the call gets dropped . A call drop represents the TSP's inability to maintain a call, either incoming or outgoing, once it has been correctly established. For operational requirements TSPs install many towers for propagation of signals . Towers act as boosters that help radio waves travel better and are a necessary part of the telecom architecture in any country. There are approximately 5,50,000 towers in India and industry associations reckon another 1,00,000 are needed. Problems of call drops occur due to several reasons. Cities like Delhi, Mumbai, Bengaluru, Chandigarh, Jaipur and Patna have far fewer towers than are needed. Civic authorities across the country have shut down a total of around 10,000 towers. Another 12,000 cannot be used due to various reasons. Further telecom companies are reluctant to share towers. This is because towers are fixed investments by subsidiaries of telecom companies or by standalone companies for whom a sharing formula does not work. The permission to erect a tower is given by the municipal body of the city . There is no uniform standard or procedure for this . The setting up of boosters on buildings remains a contested area and permission has to be obtained on a case-by-case basis . These days there is a huge radiation fear among the people which is a major concern adding to everyone's woes from common people to the TSPs . Number of activists have assumed full-time roles of spreading cell tower radiation fears causing the majority to panic. Due to this, TSPs are facing resistance from land and building owners and welfare associations to decommission or relocate towers all over the country. There have been reports of the power supply being cut off, lack of transparent and easy sanction process from local government bodies in some regions. There is no denying that there are radiations from the mobile towers and normally the towers should not be installed at close range to the populations . Thus the installation of more number of towers is beyond the control of the TSPs even when it is known that call drops can be minimised only with installation of more number of mobile towers so that coverage area is extended to maximum possible regions .
Recently the honourable Supreme Court of India has quashed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (TRAI) order imposing penalties on TSPs for dropped calls . The TRAI had asked the TSPs to compensate consumers at the rate of Re 1 every call from January this year, with a maximum penalty of Rs 3 per day per consumer. The court has found the TRAI action arbitrary as the compensation formula is unreasonable and non-transparent. It also noted that the operators alone are not responsible for call drops and there is a provision for 2% call drops in the licence order for the TSPs . The court observed that the TRAI had not taken into consideration its own technical paper which ascribed call drops to a number of reasons. These included paucity of spectrum, radio interference from neighbouring cells, shortage of mobile towers and problems of clearances from multiple agencies and right-of-the-way issues. Telecom companies added battery problems in phones and even manipulation by consumers to these . Despite the apparent ubiquity of telecom towers atop buildings in Indian cities, poor voice quality, blind spots and abrupt termination of calls is there .But the call drops are not the telecom service provider's fault only because it stems from the difficulty in setting up telecom towers. For instance no one wants to have a tower in Delhi or other metros due to radiation fears and other reasons . The TSPs had challenged TRAI's power to impose penalty charges for call drops on the ground that it involved a certain amount of adjudication. TRAI had also proceeded on the assumption that TSPs could provide 100 per cent faultless coverage . This is not technically possible in India as per laws of electronics . The licences given to TSPs gave a two per cent margin for errors, including call drops. This shows that TRAI accepts call drops to the extent of two per cent. It means TRAI accepted the fact of inevitability of call drops . There is also the common man's inclination to buy mobile phones for a bargain price in the grey market which is also responsible for call drops. This propensity of consumers is one of the several imponderables over which TSPs have no control and due to which they should not be made liable for call drops. A TRAI study itself showed that 36 percent call drops were consumer-related. It is known that cell phone itself can be the cause for dropped calls. If the cell phone has a damaged antenna it may experience poor cell phone reception, data loss and frequent dropped calls. Dropped calls and other problems can also occur if phone's roaming software has not been updated recently or if it has been corrupted in any way. Finally, a cell phone requires a quality power supply to maintain a stable connection during a call and so if phone battery is running out, the likelihood of a dropped call is also increased. Thus technically a call drop free network is not possible in democracies like India . It can be possible in monarchies or countries like North Korea or Somalia or Pakistan etc where people have no freedom and where mobile towers can be installed at any place against the will of the people. |
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