Key Details
TRAI has proposed the first amendments to the 2024 Quality of Service Regulations after reviewing their implementation. The changes seek to make network claims more verifiable, connect prolonged outages with consumer compensation and strengthen oversight of mobile, fixed-line and broadband services.
Regulatory Area | Proposed Change |
|---|---|
Coverage Maps | Operators must publish separate 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G maps, showing excellent, good, fair or no coverage. Map accuracy must be at least 98%. |
Independent Verification | TRAI may verify maps through drive tests and samples collected through its applications. Areas shown as having better coverage than users actually receive must be marked until corrected. |
Significant Outages | Complete loss of service lasting more than four hours across a district, or affecting more than 10% of subscribers in the relevant area, must be reported to TRAI within 24 hours. |
Subscriber Compensation | Significant outages continuing beyond 24 hours would require proportional rent rebates for postpaid users and corresponding validity extensions for prepaid users. |
Mobile Speeds | For 4G and 5G tariff offerings, measured upload and download performance must meet the typical speeds advertised by the operator under the prescribed percentile benchmark. |
5G Capacity | The share of cells exceeding 80% daily radio-resource utilisation must remain within 1%. New network slices must be reported to TRAI at least 21 days before introduction. |
Fixed Broadband | Proposed benchmarks include no more than five faults per 100 subscribers a month and a mean repair time of no more than 10 hours. |
Consumer Complaints | Complaint registration must remain available during outages. Affected users must be able to register complaints or be linked automatically to system-generated fault tickets. |
Service Scoring | TRAI may publish a service-wise Quality of Experience Score, drawing on network performance, customer service and consumer-perception data. |
Enforcement | False compliance reporting could attract escalating financial disincentives of up to ₹10 lakh per benchmark for repeated instances. Separate penalties are proposed for delayed reports and other non-compliance. |
Consultation | Comments are invited until 26 August 2026 and counter-comments until 7 September 2026. The draft proposes commencement from 1 October 2026. |
Coverage Claims Would Become Independently Verifiable
TRAI's consultation paper on the draft Quality of Service (QoS) Regulations, 2026 proposes a major shift in how mobile network coverage is presented and verified.
Operators would publish geospatial coverage maps separately for 2G, 3G, 4G and 5G, using four consumer-friendly categories — excellent, good, fair and no coverage. Unlike the current system, these maps would be subject to independent verification through TRAI field testing, user-generated feedback and prescribed accuracy standards.
Operators would have to:
maintain map accuracy of at least 98%;
update maps after network changes, within a maximum of three months;
display the date of the latest update;
share map data with TRAI in a prescribed digital format; and
flag areas where published coverage is better than measured performance until the discrepancy is resolved.
TRAI could use operator data to publish a combined map allowing users to compare coverage across service providers.
Prolonged Outages Would Trigger Consumer Compensation
The draft defines significant outages for mobile and wireline broadband using thresholds based on duration, subscriber impact and service degradation.
Operators would have to report such outages to TRAI within 24 hours. Where disruptions continue beyond one day, postpaid subscribers would receive proportionate bill rebates, while prepaid subscribers would receive equivalent validity extensions.
The proposals also require automatic fault-ticket generation when subscribers are unable to lodge complaints during network disruptions, ensuring outages remain part of the formal service-quality record.
Quality Regulation Would Expand Beyond Coverage
The draft substantially broadens Quality of Service (QoS) regulation beyond network coverage.
For 4G and 5G, operators would have to deliver typical advertised speeds, while fixed broadband providers would face separate benchmarks for speed, fault incidence and repair time. The proposals also introduce a 5G network-capacity benchmark, require advance notification of new network slices, and empower TRAI to publish a Quality of Experience (QoE) Score for individual services.
The draft also proposes several consumer-service standards, including:
limiting the Silence Call Rate to 1%;
resolving billing and charging complaints within one week;
assessing wireline access and broadband services separately where both are provided; and
distinguishing service-quality failures from false compliance reporting, with stricter penalties for repeated misreporting.
What Is a Physical Resource Block?
A Physical Resource Block, or PRB, is a small unit of radio-network capacity allocated to users for transmitting data over 4G and 5G networks. Persistently high PRB utilisation indicates that a cell is approaching congestion, which can reduce speeds and affect service reliability even when a signal remains available.
Policy Relevance
Coverage maps become regulatory evidence: Requiring measurable accuracy and permitting independent verification would make published coverage claims subject to oversight rather than leaving them primarily as consumer-information or marketing tools.
Outage regulation gains a direct consumer remedy: Automatic rebates and validity extensions connect prolonged service failure with compensation, reducing dependence on subscribers pursuing individual claims.
Network quality is assessed beyond signal availability: Speed, capacity utilisation, fault incidence and repair time capture forms of poor service that conventional coverage indicators may not reveal.
The 5G benchmark introduces preventive capacity oversight: Monitoring heavily utilised cells can identify emerging congestion before it develops into widespread service deterioration.
Complaint continuity improves the outage evidence base: Automatic fault-ticket mapping can prevent major disruptions from appearing less severe merely because customers were unable to register complaints.
Public Quality of Experience scores could improve comparability: Their value will depend on a transparent methodology that clearly distinguishes measured network performance, customer service and consumer perception.
Stronger penalties target the reliability of regulatory data: Treating materially inaccurate reporting separately from failure to meet a benchmark reinforces the integrity of TRAI’s monitoring framework.
Follow the Full Consultation Paper Here: TRAI Consultation Paper on Draft Amendments to the 2024 Quality of Service Regulations