Traffic jam alarming: TRAI

If you are increasingly finding it difficult to get through or facing frequent call drops, when using your mobile, blame it on the high level of network congestion in the country. Telecom regulator TRAI has said that mobile network congestion has touched alarming levels, while adding that in as many as 526 places in the country, the congestion levels were way above the permissible limit.

TRAI has been monitoring the level of congestion at the Point of Interconnection (PoI) between various service providers on a monthly basis. This parameter signifies the ease by which a customer of one network is able to communicate with a customer of another network. It reflects as to how effective is the interconnection between two networks. The benchmark notified by TRAI for this parameter is lesser than 0.5%. This means, out of 200 calls between two operators only one call should face congestion problem.

The PoI Congestion Report shows that the number of PoIs having congestion has increased from 483 in Sept 2006 to 526 in October 2006. Though, the overall performance has improved but in Karnataka, AP, Haryana, Kerala and Tamil Nadu circles, the number of PoIs having congestion has increased, Trai said.

The regulator also added that in 366 locations the congestion was in the point of interconnect between the networks of private operators and BSNL, while in 89 locations the PoI congestion was between the points of interconnect between private networks.

According to TRAI, the Circles badly affected due to PoI congestion were Bihar, Assam, Rajasthan, Madhya Pradesh, North East, West Bengal, UP-East, Orissa Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, and Jammu & Kashmir.