New Delhi, June 2: The government is exploring the possibility of penalising telecom operators to counter the menace of frequent call drops faced by consumers.

"Call drops need to be minimised. They (private operators) need to reinforce their mechanism. I have directed officials in the department to work on a disincentive architecture (for the operators)," telecom minister Ravi Shankar Prasad said while addressing a press conference to mark the completion of one year of the NDA government.

The minister added that in his role, he is responsible for ensuring that consumer interest is kept in mind. The department of telecom (DoT) will take a final call on penalty clauses or disincentives to reduce call drops by year-end.

On net neutrality, Prasad said the government has received the report and it would be uploaded on DoT's website in the next few days.

"We have received the report and it will be put on the website in a few days. Also, a copy has been sent to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai). As far as the final decision is concerned, the government and the cabinet will take the final call," Prasad said.

Apart from the six-member committee appointed in January this year by the DoT, Trai had also invited comments from stakeholders on issues such as Net neutrality and regulation of OTT services such as Whatsapp and Skype. There is a huge debate going on in the country over Net neutrality, which states that no content should be given preference over the other.

The minister said guidelines on spectrum trading and sharing would be sent to the cabinet by the end of this month. On post offices offering banking services, Prasad said he was expecting the RBI's approval for a payments bank licence for the postal department to come in by July-August.

BSNL free roaming

Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd (BSNL) will offer free national roaming from June 15. Last month, BSNL had slashed roaming tariff by up to 40 per cent for its pre-paid and post-paid mobile connections following a telecom tariff order issued by the Trai.

The government will also ensure that Wi-fi hotspots powered by BSNL are operational in major tourist locations in the next two years.

The Centre is planning to set up 2,500 Wi-fi spots this year alone.