Standards Of Quality Of Service Of Basic Telephone Service (Wireline) And Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009
Published vide Notification F. No. 305-25/2008-QoS, dated 20.3.2009
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F. No. 305-25/2008-QoS, dated 20.3.2009.- In exercise of the powers conferred upon it under section 36, read with sub-clauses (i) and (v) of clause (b) of sub-section (1) of section 11 of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997), the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India hereby makes the following regulations, namely: - Section I
PRELIMINARY
1. Short title, commencement and application.- (1) These regulations may be called the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009. (2) They shall come into force with effect from the 1st day of July, 2009. (3) These regulations shall apply to - all service providers [including Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited and Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited, being the companies registered under the Companies Act, 1956 (1 of 1956)] providing,- (i) Basic Telephone Service;
(ii) Unified Access Services;
(iii) Cellular Mobile Telephone Service;
2. Definitions.-(1) In these regulations, unless the context otherwise requires,- (a) “Act” means the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act, 1997 (24 of 1997);
(b) “Authority” means the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India established under sub-section (1) of section 3 of the Act;
(c) “Basic Telephone Service” covers collection, carriage, transmission and delivery of voice or non-voice messages over licensee’s Public Switched Telephone Network in licensed service area and includes provision of all types of services except those requiring a separate licence;
(d) “Cell” means the radio frequency coverage area of a site in radio access network which is part of a cellular mobile telephone network and -
(i) in case it is an omni-site, it is synonymous with the site; and
(ii) at a sectored site, it is synonymous with the sector;
(e) “Cell Bouncing Busy Hour” means the one hour period in a day during which a cell in a cellular mobile telephone network experiences the maximum traffic;
(f) “Cellular Mobile Telephone Service” -
(i) means telecommunication service provided by means of a telecommunication system for the conveyance of messages through the agency of wireless telegraphy where every message that is conveyed thereby has been, or is to be, conveyed by means of a telecommunication system which is designed or adapted to be capable of being used while in motion;
(ii) refers to transmission of voice or non-voice messages over Licensee’s Network in real time only but service does not cover broadcasting of any messages, voice or non-voice, however, Cell Broadcast is permitted only to the subscribers of the service;
(iii) in respect of which the subscriber (all types, pre-paid as well as post-paid) has to be registered and authenticated at the network point of registration and approved numbering plan shall be applicable;
(iv) includes both Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM) and Code Division Multiple Access (CDMA) Technology;
(g) “Call Centre” means a department or a section or a facility established by the service provider under regulation 3 of the Telecom Consumers Protection and Redressal Grievances Regulations, 2007 (3 of 2007);
(h) “consumer” means a consumer of a service provider falling in sub-regulation (3) of regulation 1 and includes its customer and subscriber ;
(i) “licence” means a licence granted or having effect as if granted under section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) or the provisions of the Indian Wireless Telegraphy Act, 1933 (17 of 1933);
(j) “licensee” means any person licensed under sub-section (1) of section 4 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885) for providing specified public telecommunication services;
(k) “message” shall have the same meaning assigned to it in clause (3) of section 3 of the Indian Telegraph Act, 1885 (13 of 1885);
(l) “MTTR” means Mean Time to Repair;
(m) “OMC” means Operation and Maintenance Centre;
(n) “Paging Channel” means a signaling control channel in a CDMA network to send control, call setup and paging messages used for communication between mobile station (MS), i.e., mobile handset and Base Transceiver Station (BTS) before such mobile station is assigned a Traffic Channel (TCH);
(o) “Point of Interconnection (POI)” means a mutually agreed upon point of demarcation where the exchange of traffic between the networks of two service providers takes place;
(p) “Public Switched Telephone Network” means a fixed specified switched public telephone network providing a two-way switched telecommunication services to the general public;
(q) “Public Land Mobile Network” means a network set up and operated by any of the licensed operators including Mahanagar Telephone Nigam Limited and Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited, for the purpose of providing land based mobile communication services to the public and which provides communication facilities to subscribers using mobile stations (MS), i.e., mobile handsets;
(r) “Quality of Service” is the main indicator of the performance of a telecommunication network and of the degree to which such network conforms to the standards of such quality of service as specified in these regulations for specified parameters;
(s) "regulations" means the Standards of Quality of Service of Basic Telephone Service (wireline) and Cellular Mobile Telephone Service Regulations, 2009;
(t) “Stand-alone Dedicated Control Channel” or “SDCCH” means, a GSM control channel for signaling purposes where the majority of call setup occurs, which is used for communication between mobile station (MS), i.e, mobile handset and Base Transceiver Station (BTS) before such mobile station is assigned a Traffic Channel (TCH);
(u) “service provider” means any service provider to which these regulations apply.
(v) “Traffic Channel” or “TCH” means, a logical channel in a GSM or CDMA network which carries either encoded speech or user data;
(w) “telecommunication services” means service of any description (including electronic mail, voice mail, data services, audio-tex services, video-tex services, radio paging and cellular mobile telephone services) which is made available to users by means of any transmission or reception of signs, signals, writing images, and sounds or intelligence of any nature, by wire, radio, visual or other electro-magnetic means but shall not include broadcasting services;
(x) “Time Consistent Busy Hour” or “TCBH” means the one hour period starting at the same time each day for which the average traffic of the resource group concerned is greatest over the days under consideration and such Time Consistent Busy Hour shall be established on the basis of analysis of traffic data for a period of ninety days;
(y) “Unified Access Services” -
(i) means telecommunication service provided by means of a telecommunication system for the conveyance of messages through the agency of wired or wireless telegraphy ;
(ii) refers to transmission of voice or non-voice messages over Licensee’s Network in real time only but service does not cover broadcasting of any messages, voice or non-voice, except, Cell Broadcast which is permitted only to the subscribers of the service;
(iii) in respect of which the subscriber (all types, pre-paid as well as post-paid) has to be registered and authenticated at the network point of registration and approved numbering plan shall be applicable;
(2) Words and expressions used but not defined in these regulations and defined in the Act and the rules and other regulations made thereunder shall have the meanings respectively assigned to them in the Act or the rules or the regulations, as the case may be.
Section Ii
QUALITY OF SERVICE (QoS) PARAMETERS FOR BASIC TELEPHONE SERVICE (WIRE LINE)
3. Quality of Service Parameters in respect of which compliance reports are to be submitted to the Authority.- (1) Every basic telephone service provider shall meet the following Quality of Service benchmarks for the basic telephone service (wireline) in respect of each specified parameter, namely:-
| Serial Number
|
Name of Parameter
|
Benchmark
|
Averaged over a period
|
| (i) | Fault incidences (No. of faults/100 subscribers /month) | ≤ | One Quarter |
| (ii)
|
Fault repair by next working day
|
For urban areas:
By next working day: ≥ 90% and within 3 days: 100%. For rural and hilly areas: By next working day: ≥ 90% and within 5 days: 100%. Rent Rebate Faults pending for >3 days and ≤7 days: Rent rebate for 7 days. Faults pending for >7 days and ≤15 days: Rent rebate for 15 days. Faults pending for >15 days: rent rebate for one month. |
One Quarter
|
| (iii) | Mean Time To Repair (MTTR) | ≤ 8 Hrs | One Quarter |
| (iv) | (a) Call Completion Rate within a local network shall be better than or, | ≥ 55% | One Quarter |
| (b) Answer to Seizure Ratio (ASR) | ≥ 75 % | One Quarter | |
| (v)
|
Point of Interconnection (POI) Congestion (on individual POI) | ≤ 0.5% | One month |
| (vi) | Metering and billing credibility – post paid | Not more than 0.1% of bills issued should be disputed over a billing cycle | One Billing Cycle |
| (vii) | Metering and billing credibility –- pre-paid | Not more than 1 complaint per 1000 customers, i.e., 0.1% complaints for metering,
charging, credit, and validity |
One Quarter |
| (viii) | Resolution of billing/ charging complaints | 100% within 4 weeks | One Quarter |
| (ix) | Period of applying credit/ waiver/ adjustment to customer’s account from the date of resolution of complaints | within 1 week of resolution of complaint | One Quarter |
| (x) | Response Time to the customer for assistance | ||
| (a) Accessibility of call centre/ customer care | ≥ 95% | One Quarter | |
| (b)Percentage of calls answered by the operators (voice to voice) within 60 seconds | ≥ 90% | One Quarter | |
| (xi) | Termination/ closure of service | ≤ 7 days | One Quarter |
| (xii) | Time taken for refund of deposits after closures | 100% within 60 days | One Quarter |
(2) The compliance of the parameters specified in sub-regulation (1) shall be reported to the Authority by the service provider. (3) The Authority may, from time to time, through audit and objective assessment of quality of service conducted either by its own officers or employees or through an agency appointed by it, verify and assess the performance by the basic telephone service provider of the Quality of Service benchmarks of each parameter for the basic telephone service (wireline) specified in sub-regulation (1). 4. Quality of Service parameters in respect of which compliance is to be monitored by the service provider.- (1) Every basic telephone service provider shall meet and monitor the following Quality of Service benchmarks for the basic telephone service (wireline) in respect of each specified parameter, namely:-
SerialNumber |
Name of Parameter | Benchmark | Averaged over a period |
| (i) | Provision of a telephone after registration of demand | 100% in ≤ 7 days (subject to technical feasibility) | One quarter |
| (ii) | Shift of Telephone Connection | ≤ 3 days (95% of requests to be attended within 3 days) | One quarter |
| (iii) | Grade of Service | (a) Junctions between local exchanges – 0.002
(b) Outgoing junctions from Trunk Automatic Exchange (TAX) to local exchange – 0.005 (c) Incoming junctions from local exchange to TAX – 0.005 (d) Incoming or out going junctions between TAX’s 0.005 (e) Switching network should be non-blocking or should have extremely low blocking probability. |
One quarter |
(2) The compliance of the Quality of Service benchmarks of each parameter for the basic telephone service (wireline) specified in sub-regulation (1) which are required to be monitored by the concerned service provider, need not be reported to the Authority. (3) The basic telephone service provider shall maintain records of its compliance of the Quality of Service benchmarks of each parameter for the basic telephone service (wireline) specified in sub-regulation (1). (4) The Authority may, if it considers it expedient so to do, and to ensure compliance of the provisions of sub-regulation (1), at any time, - (a) direct any of its officers or employees or an agency appointed by the Authority to inspect the records maintained under sub-regulation (3); or,
(b) get the records maintained under sub-regulation (3) audited.
Section Iii
QUALITY OF SERVICE (QoS) PARAMETERS FOR CELLULAR MOBILE TELEPHONE SERVICE
5. Quality of Service parameters in respect of which compliance reports are to be submitted to the Authority.- (1) Every cellular mobile telephone service provider shall meet the following Quality of Service benchmarks for cellular mobile telephone service in respect of each specified parameter, namely:-
| Serial
Number |
Name of Parameter
|
Benchmark
|
Averaged over a period
|
| A | Network Service Quality Parameters: | ||
| (i) | Network Availability | ||
| (a) BTSs Accumulated downtime (not available for service) | ≤ 2% | One Month | |
| (b) Worst affected BTSs due to downtime | ≤ 2% | One Month | |
| (ii) | Connection Establishment (Accessibility) | ||
| (a) Call Set-up Success Rate (within licensee's own network) | ≥ 95% | One Month | |
| (b) SDCCH/ Paging Channel Congestion | ≤ 1% | One Month | |
| (c) TCH Congestion | ≤ 2% | One Month | |
| (iii) | Connection Maintenance (Retainability) | ||
| (a) Call Drop Rate | ≤ 2% | One Month | |
| (b) Worst affected cells having more than 3% TCH drop (call drop) rate | ≤ 5% upto 31.03.2011
≤ 3% From 01.04.2011 |
One Month | |
| (c) connections with good voice quality | ≥ 95% | One Month | |
| (iv)
|
Point of Interconnection (POI) Congestion ( on individual POI) | ≤ 0.5% | One Month |
| B | Customer Service Quality Parameters: | ||
| (v) | Metering and billing credibility – post paid | Not more than 0.1% of bills issued should be disputed over a billing cycle | One Billing Cycle |
| (vi) | Metering and billing credibility –- pre-paid | Not more than 1 complaint per 1000 customers i.e. 0.1% complaints for metering, charging, credit, and validity | One Quarter |
| (vii) | (a) Resolution of billing/ charging complaints | 100% within 4 weeks | One Quarter |
| (b) Period of applying credit/ waiver/ adjustment to customer’s account from the date of resolution of complaints | within 1 week of resolution of complaint | One Quarter | |
| (viii) | Response Time to the customer for assistance | ||
| (a) Accessibility of call centre/ customer care | ≥ 95% | One Quarter | |
| (b)Percentage of calls answered by the operators (voice to voice) within 60 seconds | ≥ 90% | One Quarter | |
| (ix) | Termination/ closure of service | ≤ 7 days | One Quarter |
| (x) | Time taken for refund of deposits after closures | 100% within 60 days | One Quarter |
(2) The compliance of the parameters specified in sub-regulation (1) shall be reported to the Authority by the service provider.(3) The Authority may, from time to time, through audit and objective assessment of quality of service conducted either by its own officers or employees or through an agency appointed by it, verify and assess the performance by the cellular mobile telephone service provider of the Quality of Service benchmarks of each parameter for the cellular mobile telephone service specified in sub-regulation (1).6. Quality of Service parameter in respect of which compliance is to be monitored by the service provider.- (1) Every cellular mobile telephone service provider shall meet and monitor the following Quality of Service benchmarks for cellular mobile telephone service in respect of the specified parameter, namely:-
| Serial Number | Name of Parameter | Benchmark |
| 1 | Service Coverage | For In-door coverage the signal strength at street level shall be ≥ -75 dBm and In-vehicle shall be ≥ -85 dBm. |
(2) The compliance of the Quality of Service benchmarks of the parameter for the cellular mobile telephone service specified in sub-regulation (1) need not be reported to the Authority.(3) The service provider shall,
(a) measure the service coverage through drive tests of the cellular mobile telephone network at periodic intervals and take remedial action to address problems related to coverage including interference, call drop and voice quality revealed during such drive tests;
(b) maintain the records of such drive tests and the action taken on the problems related to coverage including interference, call drop and voice quality revealed during such drive tests; and
(c) provide to the Authority or its authorized agency or representative, on demand, for verification, the records maintained as per clause (b) above.
(4) The Authority may, through drive tests of the cellular mobile telephone network conducted either by its own officers or employees or through an agency appointed by it or through joint drive tests with the service provider, assess the quality of the service coverage, and the service provider shall facilitate such drive tests.(5) The service provider shall, suo motu, take all remedial action to rectify shortcomings or deficiencies, if any, detected during the joint drive tests referred to in sub-regulation (4) without waiting for any communication from the Authority and submit to the Authority -
(a) its action plan, within thirty days of such drive tests, for remedying the shortcomings or deficiencies; and
(b) its final compliance report within such time limit as indicated in the action plan or such reduced time limit as may be indicated by the Authority in response to the action plan of the service provider referred to in clause (a), as the case may be.
(6) In respect of a drive test conducted by the Authority under sub-regulation (4) either by its own officers or employees or through an agency appointed by it, the service provider shall submit to the Authority-
(a) its action plan for removal of the shortcomings or deficiencies, within thirty days of receipt by it of the communication from the Authority about such shortcomings or deficiencies based on such drive test; and
(b) its final compliance report within such time limit as indicated in the action plan or such reduced time limit as may be indicated by the Authority in response to the action plan of the service provider referred to in clause (a), as the case may be.
(7) The Authority may, if it considers it expedient so to do, and to ensure compliance of the provisions of sub-regulation (1), at any time,-
(a) direct any of its officers or employees or an agency appointed by the Authority to inspect the records maintained under sub-regulation (3); or,
(b) get the records maintained under sub-regulation (3) audited.
Section Iv
CUSTOMER PERCEPTION OF SERVICE FOR BASIC TELEPHONE SERVICE (WIRELINE) AND CELLULAR MOBILE TELEPHONE SERVICE
7. Quality of Service parameters to be reflected in customer perception of service.- The performance of the service providers in respect of the following Quality of Service benchmarks for the basic telephone service (wireline) or cellular mobile telephone service or both, as the case may be, in respect of each specified parameter, shall be subject to periodic assessment by the authority through customer satisfaction surveys, which may be conducted by the Authority either through its own officers or employees or through any agency appointed by it, namely :-
| Serial Number | Name of Parameter | Benchmark |
| (a) | customers satisfied with the provision of service | ≥ 90 % |
| (b) | customers satisfied with the billing performance | ≥ 95 % |
| (c) | customers satisfied with network performance, reliability and availability | ≥ 95 % |
| (d) | customers satisfied with maintainability | ≥ 95 % |
| (e) | customers satisfied with supplementary and value added services | ≥ 90 % |
| (f) | customers satisfied with help services including customer grievance redressal | ≥ 90 % |
| (g) | customers satisfied with overall service quality | ≥ 90 % |
Section V
RECORD KEEPING, REPORTING AND PUBLICATION OF QUALITY OF SERVICE PERFORMANCE
8. Record Keeping.- (1) Every service provider shall maintain documented process of collection of data for each Quality of Service parameter specified by the Authority in regulation 3, regulation 4, regulation 5 and regulation 6 and submit to the Authority, within sixty days of notification of these regulations, the documented process of collection of data of each Quality of Service parameter, indicating the correlation with the primary data which are derived from system counters or codes in Operation and Maintenance Centre or Network Management System or Mobile Switching Centre or telephone exchange, along with record keeping procedure. (2) Every service provider shall maintain complete and accurate records of its compliance of benchmark of each Quality of Service parameter specified in regulations 3, regulation 4, regulation 5 and regulation 6 in such manner and in such formats as may be directed by the Authority, from time to time. (3) The Authority may, from time to time, either by order or by direction, specify uniform record keeping procedures and formats, including guidelines on measurement methodology for various Quality of Service parameters specified in these regulations, to be followed by the service providers. (4) The Authority may, if it considers it expedient so to do, and to ensure compliance of the provisions of sub-regulations (2) and (3), at any time, direct any of its officers or employees or an agency appointed by the Authority to inspect the records maintained under sub-regulations (2) and (3) or to get such records audited. (5) The Authority may, if it considers it expedient so to do, require the concerned service provider to get the records maintained by it under sub-regulations (2) and (3) audited through an agency as may be specified by the Authority and submit the report in respect of such audit to the Authority and the cost of such audit shall be borne by the concerned service provider. 9. Reporting.- Every service provider shall submit to the Authority its compliance reports of benchmarks in respect of each Quality of Service parameter specified under regulation 3 and regulation 5 in such manner and format, at such periodic intervals and within such time limit as may be specified by the Authority, from time to time, by an order or direction. 10. Publication.- (1) The Authority may publish, in such manner and in such format, as may be decided by the Authority from time to time - (a) the compliance reports of benchmarks of each Quality of Service parameter reported to it by the service providers in accordance with regulation 9;
(b) the results of the audit and objective assessment of Quality of Service undertaken by the Authority or its authorised agency as per sub-regulation (3) of regulation 3 , sub-regulation (3) of regulation 5 and sub-regulations (4) and (5) of regulation 8; and
(c) the results of the customer satisfaction surveys undertaken by the Authority as per regulation 7 -
through its website or through press releases or through advertisements in the newspapers, for the information of the general public. (2) Every service provider shall publish, for the information of the consumers, its performance with respect to the benchmark of Quality of Service parameter specified in regulation 3, regulation 4, regulation 5 and regulation 6, in such manner and in such format, as may be directed by the Authority from time to time. 11. Review.- (1) The Quality of Service parameters specified in regulation 3, regulation 4, regulation 5, regulation 6 and regulation 7 may be reviewed by the Authority from time to time. (2) The Authority, on reference from any affected party for good and sufficient reasons, may review and modify these regulations. 12. Over-riding Effect.- Wherever higher quality parameter has been stipulated as a condition of licence, the Quality of Service as required by the licence shall have precedence over the parameters specified in these regulations. 13. Repeal and Saving.- (1) The Regulation on Quality of Service of Basic and Cellular Mobile Telephone Services, 2005 (11 of 2005) is hereby repealed. (2) Notwithstanding such repeal, anything done or any action taken under the said Regulation shall be deemed to have been done or taken under the corresponding provisions of these regulations. 14. Interpretation.- In case of any doubt regarding interpretation of any of the provisions of these regulations, the clarification of the Authority shall be final and binding.