Telcos oppose Trai’s proposed 5G slicing service quality rules

Telecom operators Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have opposed the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai) proposed quality of service (QoS) regulations for 5G network slicing, arguing that the rules could limit network flexibility, hinder innovation and affect ease of doing business.

Last month, the telecom regulator proposed in its draft regulations that if a 5G mobile cell remains loaded more than 80% during its peak hour on any five days in a month, telecom operators must take timely steps to increase capacity. Across an operator’s network in a service area, not more than 1% of its total cells can exceed this congestion threshold in a month, according to the draft rules.

If they cannot clear the congestion on a cell within 30 days, they will have to shut down any priority fast-lane 5G slices on that antenna until it is upgraded. Besides, operators must prove they have enough capacity and inform Trai 21 days in advance before launching any new 5G slice.

5G slicing creates dedicated, high-speed network lanes. Through the new regulations, the regulator wanted to ensure standard users do not suffer degraded internet quality owing to 5G slicing.

“We submit that such a mandate is against the letter and spirit of efficient spectrum utilization, technology neutrality and ease of doing business policies of the Government and should not be implemented,” Reliance Jio said in response dated 2 September on draft quality of service regulations.

“PRB (physical resource block) utilization is an internal radio-resource metric, not a direct measure of customer experience or service degradation,” Jio said, adding that network slicing is a fast-moving, dynamic capability tied to innovative and enterprise-specific 5G services, and the mandate of advance notice for every new slice would slow down launches and limit responsiveness to market needs.

PRB is a basic unit of radio capacity in a mobile network used to carry data between a cell tower and users’ devices. 80% PRB utilisation essentially means a cell is using about 80% of its available radio resources at a given time.

According to the operators, the proposed rules could not only restrict them from using their auctioned spectrum flexibly, but also disclose detailed slice parameters in advance, which could reveal commercially sensitive products ahead of launch, thereby weakening the competitive edge.

The draft rules come months after Bharti Airtel introduced its Fastlane service for postpaid users in May, using 5G network slicing technology to offer a differentiated experience. The service also drew scrutiny over whether it could violate net neutrality. Trai is separately working on consultation for a new net neutrality framework as well, after the department of telecommunications (DoT) sought its intervention.

Bharti Airtel too echoed Reliance Jio’s views on 5G slicing service quality norms.

“If the deployment of a network slice results in material degradation of service to ordinary subscribers, such degradation would ultimately manifest itself in customer-facing QoS parameters such as throughput/speed or service availability,” Rahul Vatts, director of corporate affairs and group chief regulatory officer of Bharti Airtel said in a submission dated 2 September to Trai. “There is therefore no need to create a separate ex-ante regulatory mechanism merely because a TSP (telecom service provider) proposes to introduce a new network slice

According to Vatts, Trai has not indicated any international precedent for the proposed framework. “The proposal therefore does not reflect established global regulatory practice; rather, it introduces an unprecedented constraint.”

Global practice

The regulator, in its draft, said its approach aligns with international practice. Regulators in the European Union, the UK, France and the US recognise the value of 5G network slicing while requiring safeguards to protect open internet access for general users.

In its submission to Trai, Vodafone Idea said the proposed parameter should be deleted. “In the alternative, the Authority may adopt a technology-neutral and outcome-based regulatory approach focusing on actual consumer experience rather than internal network resource utilization metrics,” Ambika Khurana, chief regulatory and corporate affairs officer at Vodafone Idea said in a letter dated 2 September to Trai.

“Any threshold adopted should be based on conditions where network slicing is genuinely relevant and resource contention exists, rather than normal and efficient network operations,” Khurana said.

Among other amendments to service quality norms, Trai proposed that telcos must publish highly detailed geospatial coverage maps on their websites with a mandatory point-level accuracy of over 98%. It also wants the operators to classify coverage as Excellent, Good, Fair or No Coverage.

Trai also introduced a new silence-call rate parameter with benchmark of less than 1% to track call muting and audio muffle issues, and also slashed the allowed timeline for resolving customer billing and charging complaints from four weeks down to just one week under a strict 100% compliance target. The regulator also proposed proportional rent rebates or plan extensions for subscribers experiencing significant network outages (SNO).

The operators have also opposed several other proposed QoS measures, saying they are technically impractical and could create significant operational burdens. They said coverage maps are predictive tools, not guarantees of real-time service at every location, as actual network coverage can vary with terrain, weather, device type and network load.

Operators have also called for the removal of the proposed silent-call metric, and warned that a one-week deadline for resolving billing disputes may be unworkable. They also said outage-based rebates would be difficult to implement.