Thiruvananthapuram: A Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) report has corroborated complaints by BSNL users over persistent call quality issues.

The report, which assesses the performance of various mobile service providers, places BSNL at the bottom in most parameters.

Users have mainly complained of calls getting disconnected mid-conversation, callers hearing the ring while the recipient's phone does not ring, poor voice clarity, messages stating that landline numbers are out of coverage while dialling, and other calls interrupting an ongoing conversation.

While the TRAI report does not specifically mention these complaints, the lower scores in the parameters linked to them indicate poor network performance. BSNL is the country's only public sector mobile service provider. The private operators assessed by TRAI are Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

Overall performance: 7.7 out of 10

BSNL scored 7.7 out of 10 in the overall performance assessment of the four operators. Jio scored 9.8, Airtel 9.3 and Vodafone Idea 8.9.

Call drops remain a concern

TRAI has set the benchmark for call drops during conversations at 2%.

BSNL, ranked fourth, recorded a score ranging from 1.3% to 1.9%. The best-performing operator recorded between 0.5% and 0.8%, the second-ranked operator between 1.1% and 1.5%, and the third-ranked operator between 1.2% and 1.8%.

Lags in call connection rate

BSNL also ranked fourth in call connection success after dialling. Its score ranged between 98.1% and 99.9%, while the top-ranked operator recorded between 99.6% and 99.8%.

Leads in customer service

BSNL topped the customer service category. It recorded the fewest billing complaints and achieved a 100% complaint resolution rate.

BSNL officials said the issues were caused by technical problems that emerged after the nationwide deployment of indigenously developed 4G technology towers. They said the problems would be resolved soon.