Lok Sabha polls: 1202 candidates in fray across 88 constituencies in Phase II
Over 15.88 crore voters will be determining the fate of 1202 candidates tomorrow in the second phase of the seven-phase Lok Sabha elections.
Call drops have declined over a period of time in view of the various steps taken by the government, Telecom Minister Manoj Sinha told the Lok Sabha on Wednesday.
The telecom service providers have also been asked to improve the coverage of signal by installing more base transceiver stations (BTS), he said.
Replying to queries during Question Hour, Sinha said the instances of call drops have reduced over a period of time and measures, including establishing an Integrated Voice Response System (IVRS), have been taken to deal with the issue.
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With respect to signal blind-spots in the wireless network, the minister said it is a "natural phenomenon" which may happen due to various reasons including poor radio coverage and loading of available spectrum.
Radio jammers may also result in localised signal blind-spots, he said, while adding that no data is maintained by the government pertaining to signal blind-spots.
To improve the quality and coverage, telecom service providers (TSPs) have been asked to install more BTS.
"The TSPs have reported that they have already installed 1,09,000 BTS across the country from July 2015 to May 2016 and 2,16,000 additional BTSs from June 2016 to February 2017.
"The TSPs have also said about 4,97,000 BTSs have been optimised for improvement in network performance since July 2015," Sinha said.
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