(a) whether there has been poor quality of Telecom, Post and Telegraph services in the country particularly
in hilly, tribal and rural areas;
(b) if so, the details thereof; and
(c) the steps taken/being taken by the Government to improve the said services?
MINISTER OF THE STATE IN THE MINISTRY OF COMMUNICATIONS AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY (SHRI SACHIN PILOT)
(a) to (c) In respect of Telecom services, TRAI has been monitoring the performance of service providers
against the benchmark for various quality of service parameter laid down by TRAI from time to time, through
quarterly Performance Monitoring Reports (PMRs)/Point of Interconnection (PoI) Congestion reports. TRAI has
prescribed benchmarks for Fault related parameters for Basic services such as Fault incidences per 100
subscribers /month (Benchmark? 5). TRAI has defined network related parameters like Call drop (Benchmark 95%), BTS down time (Benchmark
In respect of Postal services, it is stated that India has network of 1,55,015 Post Offices (as on 31.3.2009)
spread all over the country including hilly, tribal and rural areas. Mail collection, processing, transmission
and delivery are the core activity of the Department of Posts which are performed effective and efficiently.
However, complaints on non-delivery /late delivery of mails, loss of articles, non-payment/delay in payment
of money order etc. are received and attended to promptly. A well laid out procedure for processing and
settlement of public grievances exists in all offices of the Department of Posts.
Regarding Telegraph services, it is stated that these services are available in all parts of the country
including hilly, tribal and rural areas and working through state-of-art WTMS (Web based Telegraph Messaging
System) satisfactorily. Telegrams can also be booked on phone by dialing 1585 from any BSNL telephone as well
as from local/STD/PCOs. Further the telegrams are being delivered through Telegraph Messengers/post in all
parts of the country including hilly, tribal and rural areas.