SRINAGAR: The Centre on Thursday informed the Rajya Sabha that complaints relating to call drops, poor voice quality and slow mobile internet services have registered a marginal decline over the past two months, while asserting that stricter quality standards and financial penalties are being enforced to improve telecom services across the country, including in Jammu and Kashmir.
In a written reply to an unstarred question, Minister of State for Communications Pemmasani Chandra Sekhar said complaints received through the Centralised Public Grievance Redress and Monitoring System (CPGRAMS) showed a slight fall during May and June 2026.
For Jammu and Kashmir, complaints against Airtel declined from 11 in May to six in June, while Reliance Jio complaints increased from six to nine during the same period. BSNL recorded three complaints in June against none in May, while no complaints were reported against MTNL or Vodafone Idea in the Union Territory during either month.
The minister said that under the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Quality of Service regulations, explanations are sought from telecom service providers whenever prescribed service quality benchmarks are not met. After examining their responses, TRAI imposes financial disincentives for non-compliance.
During 2025-26, TRAI imposed financial disincentives totalling Rs 1.90 crore on telecom operators for failing to meet wireless service quality standards. BSNL faced the highest penalty of Rs 57.5 lakh, followed by Airtel (Rs 48 lakh), MTNL ( Rs 37 lakh), Vodafone Idea ( Rs 31 lakh) and Reliance Jio ( Rs 17 lakh).
The Government said it is also expanding telecom connectivity in rural, border and remote areas through projects funded under the Digital Bharat Nidhi, aimed at providing mobile services in uncovered villages and locations across the country.
It added that TRAI has enforced stricter Quality of Service benchmarks from October 1, 2024, to ensure more reliable voice and data services for subscribers nationwide.
