If you are boasting of Delhi's 10 million mobile phone subscribers as upward mobility index or taking pride in the telecom revolution sweeping the country with 4 million new subscribers added every month, pause.
For, inter-connectivity between networks is groaning under the weight of the system and is facing near total collapse, warned India's telecom regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
The result is that more often than not your call vanishes into thin air or you hear recorded messages: 'The network you are trying to access is currently busy' or 'the mobile phone you are trying to reach is unavailable at present'.
The runaway growth of mobile connections has led to a steep increase in inter-network traffic with more and more people communicating with each other cutting across the networks of service providers.
TRAI, in an application before the Supreme Court, complained that the problem became acute after TDSAT barred its jurisdiction to look into inter-connectivity agreements between service providers.
Its plea for an early hearing on the appeal against the TDSAT order was allowed by the court recently.
In its application, TRAI said' 'Inter-connection is the lifeline to support such high growth in inter-network traffic. For the consumers to get acceptable quality of service, an effective and efficient interconnection regime is a must.'
TRAI said it was in possession of reports showing deterioration in quality of service in the service providers' networks due to congestion at points of interconnection, particularly with BSNL.
'The report shows that in a number of major and small cities, the level of congestion between the network of private operators and network of BSNL is alarming, with near total collapse of inter-network communication between these networks during busy hours,' TRAI said.