TRAI fixes mobile call ring time at 30 seconds, 60 seconds for landline

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday set phone call ring time at 30 seconds on mobiles and 60 seconds for landline phones, in case the call is neither answered nor rejected by the subscriber.

NEW DELHI: The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday fixed mobile phone call ring time at 30 seconds and 60 seconds for landline phones, in case the call is neither answered nor rejected by the subscriber.

In an amendment to quality of service norms for basic telephone service and cellular mobile telephone service, the TRAI said, "With the enactment of these amendments, Access Provide would have to maintain the time duration of alert for an incoming voice call, which is neither answered nor rejected by the called party, to thirty seconds for Cellular Mobile Telephone Service and sixty seconds for Basic Telephone Service."

However, TRAI added, "Originating network may release an unanswered call after 90 seconds in case the call release message is not received from the terminating network."

This comes after Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel clashed over the call ring time matter with Jio accusing old operators, including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, of "illegally" masquerading wire-line numbers as mobile numbers for "undue enrichment" and has exhorted TRAI to impose "severest penalty" on them for violating regulations and licensing norms.

Bharti Airtel had lashed back on Jio and said that it was trying to misguide the regulator ahead of the consultation on call connect charges.

While Bharti Airtel had said the ringing time be set at 45 seconds and argued that networks receiving the call must be allowed sufficient time, Jio had batted for a reduction to 20-25 seconds saying that it will save spectrum resources. Vodafone Idea wanted ringer time to be set at 30 seconds.

In its statement, TRAI said, "Recently, it was brought to the notice of the Authority that one of the Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) has reduced the duration of alert to a lower value in comparison to values configured in rest of other networks and it is adversely affecting the customers' experience. It was also brought to notice that effective control to release the call when it remains unanswered, usually rests with the terminating network but lowering value of timer at the originating leg of the call has shifted this control to originating end and is causing earlier release of even those calls for which terminating network has set higher values. This was reported to have resulted in a significant rise in the number of calls not released on the basis of the response of the called party to the alert but on the originating network's initiation to release the call."

TRAI had initiated public consultation on 'Duration of alert for the called party' by releasing a consultation paper on Septermber 16. Till now there was no such limit for calls within India.