The issue of call drops in the networks of the Indian telecom companies appears to be continuing. This came to the fore when the Union Minster of State for Communications, Sanjay Dhotre informed the Indian Parliament. The Minister informed the house that a total of ₹3.2 crore has been imposed as penalty for call drop on the telecom companies for the 10-month period September 2018 to June 2019. Of this amount, ₹1.76 crore has to be paid by Vodafone Idea alone. This is the highest among the companies.

The other companies figuring in the penalty list for call drops include Bharti Airtel ₹34 lakh; Tata Teleservices ₹56 lakhs; BSNL ₹47.5 lakh and Reliance Jio ₹6.50 lakh. The figure for Vodafone Idea is being split into Vodafone ₹1.11 crore and Idea ₹65 lakh. It is possible these figures are for the period the two service providers were operating as separate entities.

It is apparent that none of the telecom service providers have been spared, as it should be. In other information shared by the Minister in the Rajya Sabha, it has emerged that BSNL, struggling under a financial stress, was the lone telecom service provider to have failed to meet the benchmark on the towers in specific locations. There is a minimum number of mobile towers the telecom company must have functioning within the earmarked territory. Leaving BSNL, all the other companies were in compliance.

The Minister also informed the members of Parliament that on the network availability criteria, two companies had failed to reach the benchmark requirements. This includes BSNL in West Bengal and Vodafone Idea in Jammu & Kashmir.