Telecom regulator Trai has asked mobile service providers to ready their systems to compensate consumers for call drops from January 1. And in the meantime, it has expressed its willingness to examine the issues raised by them.


"I have made it very clear. It's a valid regulation. Neither overturned by a competent authority, nor annulled, modified or cancelled. The operators must take steps to prepare themselves to implement this," Trai Chairman R S Sharma told reporters today.


The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had already held a meeting with telecom operators on implementation of call drop compensation rules and steps taken by them to improve quality of service.


According to the guidelines, telecom operators will have to compensate consumers Re 1 for every call drop that occurs due to fault in their network, which is limited to a maximum of Rs 3 a day per consumer.