New Delhi, April 27 : The government on Monday asked the telecom service providers (TSP) to improve the quality of their services in view of increasing negative public perception in the country.

Telecom Secretary Rakesh Garg chaired the meeting with the service providers where they were apprised about the growing negative perception with regard to poor quality of telecom services in the country in general and with special emphasis on degrading quality in metros.

\"It was indicated to the TSPs that the public in general is highly dissatisfied with frequent and heavy call drops during the calls throughout the day and not confined to peak calling hours which shows poor quality of the telecom networks,\" said an official statement from the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).

\"The TSPs were also told about the perception of the public that such call drops are deliberate attempts by the TSPs to have multiple charging and consequent commercial gain,\" it added.

DoT said it was also noticed that the billing by TSPs is not transparent and there are frequent changes in the package rates, contrary to initial agreed upon package, without any consent of the customer.

All the TSPs assured to take all necessary measures to bring transparency in the billing system and to improve the overall quality of telecom services in the shortest possible time, the statement said.

\"In case of international roaming, TSPs do not have any warning system about the tariffs to be charged for various applications,\" it said.

The TSPs assured to look into the billing complaints on priority basis and set up a transparent system to educate the customers about various tariffs being charged so that the billing complaints are minimized.

The TSPs also highlighted the delay in acquisition of new sites for additional towers because of fear of electro-magnetic field (EMF) radiation in the public, closure of existing tower sites because of local bodies\' regulations and delay in getting permission from local bodies for laying/repair of cables etc.

The government also emphasized that TSPs should take further steps to educate the public about the stringent EMF norms being followed in India. It should be highlighted through seminars and public meetings that there are no harmful effects of tower radiations.

Telecom services providers told to improve services