Airtel has launched its Open Network Initiative under the Project Leap program, where it has promised to make information about its entire mobile network accessible to everyone. Users can now check for Airtel’s network coverage/signal strength across India, along with network site deployment status. This can be accessed via the MyAirtel app, or by visiting the dedicated website here.
To make it easy to understand, Airtel has used an interface with a colour scheme that lets users know about the company’s network coverage status in an area, ranging from excellent, good, moderate or non-existent. Further, users will also get to know about the status of mobile site deployment in specific regions, ranging from existing, required, being upgraded, or forcibly shut down. Further, users can also report their network-related issues via the Airtel Call Center, or by going to one of the company's Flagship stores spread across the nation.
Gopal Vittal, MD & CEO (India and South Asia) of Bharti Airtel, stated, “With this initiative, we are establishing complete transparency with regards to our mobile network and opening ourselves to customer scrutiny and feedback. For us, the network experience is paramount and Airtel customers can now take charge of network issues and be a part of the solution, rather than waiting for it to happen. Today, getting permissions to put up a network site is perhaps the biggest challenge in delivering a seamless experience to customers. We hope customers will actively come forward and help us make our network better.”
Airtel also announced that, as part of Project Leap, it will be deploying a range of technology solutions to improve network quality inside buildings. The company plans to deploy over 1,00,000 such solutions over the next three years. Under the same project, Airtel spoke about imposing a voluntary benchmark of 1.5 percent on call drops, which is lower than TRAI's currently recommended norm of 2 percent of call drops, under the Quality of Service regulations.