Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is aiming to improve transparency when it comes to network coverage claim by telecom operators. In its recent guidelines announce last week, the country’s telecom watchdog has direct service providers to display the geospatial network coverage map, its availability, and the signal strength.
This is said to enable better transparency and uniformity when it comes to providing wireless access service and help make users more informed decisions.
As per TRAI, telecom service providers in India will be require to display the network coverage map based on actual measurement through physical or network analytics.
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Also, they can also rely on the industry standard prediction methodology for the same.
If the latter is apply for the preparation of coverage maps, the service provider will need to verify a sample against the actual signal strength.
It shall be follow by the application of the correction factor to ensure the network coverage deduce using prediction tools is as close to the actual user experience.
The telecom watchdog directs operators to show the cell coverage of 2G, 3G, 4G, and 5G networks in the prescribe colour scheme, with each technology being represent in its designate colour, and having the minimum prescribe signal strength at the outermost boundaries of the coverage area with 50% load of its maximum capacity.
Any area having signal strength below the aforemention threshold will be consider as no coverage area for the respective technology, as per the watchdog.
| S. No. | Technology | Threshold level of signal strength at 50% cell loading |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2G | RSSI ≥ -95 dBm |
| 2 | 3G | RSCP ≥ -99 dBm |
| 3 | 4G | RSRP ≥ -110 dBm |
| 4 | 5G | RSRP ≥ -110 dBm |
The map should be place on the landing page of the telecom provider’s website for single-click navigation, the notice stated.
Further, a dedicated Coverage map shall be place in the navigation bar which should lead to the corresponding page.
The watchdog says the coverage maps are obligated to have the following elements:
- Map base layer: Displays the name of the street, road, highway, village district and State/UT with boundaries.
- Technology toggle: You should have the option to view the coverage of specific technologies (2G, 3G, 4G, 5G). Also, they must also be able to view a unified coverage map.
- Search: The user should be able to search the location by looking up the State/ UT/ District/ City/ Village name or by entering latitude and longitude.
- Legend: The map should also have appropriate legends to indicate the meaning of different colours or information displayed on the map.
Other features include the ability to zoom in/out, a home tab which redirects to the default position, a full-screen mode, and a my location option which centres the coverage map at the location of the user device.
TRAI says telecom providers will also be require to update the coverage maps on a monthly basis or any other frequency.
This is also mandatory at the commissioning or the decommissioning of the cell or when a change occurs in the coverage due to the Licensed or Authorized Service Area (LSA) network.
