Smartphone users often face call drop or connectivity problem. Sometimes restarting your smartphone could resolve the issue. However, if you have noticed that your SIM card has stopped working, then this news is for you. The Ministry of Communications said that the government has disconnected more than one crore fraudulent mobile connections with the help of Sanchar Saathi. So, if your SIM card is not working, then you need to get its KYC done again using valid documents or get a new SIM card issued.

To tackle the issue of spam calls, TRAI has instructed telecom operators to disconnect and blacklist entities involved in using bulk connections for spam, including robocalls and pre-recorded messages. Over the past two weeks, more than 350,000 such numbers have been disconnected, and 50 entities have been blacklisted. Additionally, the ministry reported that around 350,000 unused or unverified SMS headers and 1.2 million content templates have been blocked.

The ministry added that several initiatives have been launched to ensure spam-free, high-quality telecom services with fast data speeds. To combat cyber fraud, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) introduced a citizen-centric platform called *Sanchar Saathi*, allowing people to report suspicious calls and messages. So far, over 10 million fraudulent mobile connections have been disconnected with the help of *Sanchar Saathi*. Additionally, 227,000 mobile handsets involved in cybercrime and financial fraud have been blocked.

In parallel, with an objective of improving the network performance, benchmarks are to be gradually tightened for key network parameters like network availability, call drop rates, packet drop rates, etc. In this regard, TRAI has released its revised regulations, “The Standards of Quality of Service of Access (Wirelines and Wireless) and Broadband (Wireline and Wireless) Service Regulations, 2024 (06 of 2024)’.

These regulations will come into effect from October 1, 2024 and from April 1, 2025, monthly monitoring of QoS performance of mobile service will be started instead of on a quarterly basis. Revised QoS benchmark for few important parameters as per new regulation are given below. (With agency inputs)