How long should your phone ring? TRAI seeks suggestions
In a rather unique consultation paper, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has invited suggestions from industry experts and stakeholders on the maximum duration for which a phone should ring for calls. Through the move, the telecom regulator aims at ensuring optimum utilization of network and spectrum resources. Furthermore, it is also exploring the "possibility of customization of ringing duration" by phone users.
"The objective of this consultation paper is to discover values for duration of ringing which should be configured by all the telecommunication service providers to force release calls in case no answer condition persists beyond the given duration," TRAI said in the latest discussion paper.
Notably, TRAI is looking to strike the right balance between allowing enough time to the user to pick a call, while also ensuring optimal utilization of network resources. However, the regulator admitted that setting ringing duration on the "lower side" could lead to bad customer experience, if the duration happens to be considerably lower than is typically desired.
"Configuration of duration of ringing time on lower side might save network resources but it may cause concerns related to network performances and customer experience if duration is much lower than the typical time one takes to answer the call," TRAI acknowledged.
Furthermore, the telecom regulator has sought views on whether users should be enabled to differentiate between commercial and regular calls, based on call duration. Currently, the ring time in mobile networks ranges between 30-45 seconds, while the same for land line networks is set at 60-120 seconds. The deadline for stakeholders' comments is September 30, and for counter-comments, if any, it is October 7.
