TRAI finalises recommendations on priority routing of emergency calls

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) finalised on 27 November its recommendations on ‘Telecom network failures during emergencies/ disasters – priority routing of calls of persons engaged in response and recovery’.

It said a priority call routing (PCR) scheme should be instituted to ensure that calls of personnel responsible for ‘response and recovery’ during disasters are routed in priority.

“Enhanced multi-level precedence and pre-emption (eMLPP) based priority call routing should be implemented in wireless networks in India along with the right to pre-empt ongoing calls, if needed,” it said.

The regulator said that the use of pre-emption feature of eMLPP may be reviewed subsequently, based on the performance of the PCR scheme during emergencies.

“The Government should fund the PCR scheme through budgetary allocation/ support and should oversee its implementation. The operational expenses for the PCR scheme should be borne by the National Disaster Relief Fund,” it said.

To ensure that the emergency responders have access to whichever network is available, the authority has recommended that it should be mandatory for all service providers offering priority services to enter into intra-circle roaming arrangement, it added. 

The authority has also recommended that a Standing Committee, under the Union Home Secretary, comprising senior officers from Department of Telecom, TRAI, National Disaster Management Authority, Telecom Engineering Centre, and representative from industry should be formed.

Source: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/3702-trai-finalises-recommendations-on-priority-routing-of-emergency-calls.html
Source: http://cablequest.org/news/telecom-news/item/3702-trai-finalises-recommendations-on-priority-routing-of-emergency-calls.html