If you are annoyed by the pre-call COVID-19 announcements too, don’t worry, it might not stay there for long now. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has written to the Union Health Ministry requesting to drop the pre-call COVID-19 awareness announcement. The pre-call announcement has been there for the last two years now, and it has become very irritating for a lot of people. While these pre-call COVID-19 announcements have helped with raising awareness amongst Indians, they are not needed anymore. These pre-call announcements have served their purpose, and it’s time for them to go now.
Delay in Emergency Calls
People who are making emergency calls have to wait until the awareness announcement is completed before the call connects. This results in delays where time is the most critical element. DoT, in its request, has cited representations from mobile subscribers as well as the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI). According to a PTI report, the health ministry is considering removing the pre-call announcements for COVID-19 as the pandemic situation in the country has improved significantly. Telcos had to follow the rule for playing COVID-19 pre-call recording for each call made by the subscribers as the order came from the DoT, which was following the guidelines of the Union Health Ministry. DoT, in its letter to the health ministry, said that the pre-call message that is being played across networks is resulting in holding up and delaying critical calls which are being made for emergencies which end in the consumption of precious bandwidth resources. Because of this, the mobile networks of the telecom service providers (TSPs) creates a significant delay in call connections. It results in a bad experience for the customers at the end of the day. It is high time that a change is implemented and the pre-call recording is removed.
