Hyderabad: In a big relief to nearly 15 crore telephone users in the country those who use basic or feature phones, the telecom regulator has asked telecom operators such as Airtel, Reliance Jio, Vodafone India and BSNL, to offer mobile recharge plans only for voice and sms services as these mobile users do not need data plans.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Monday issued Telecom Consumers Protection (12th Amendment) Regulations, 2024 that mandate telecom operators to launch mobile packs only for voice and sms services.
The amended rules will come into force 30 days after their publication in the official gazette. The TRAI conducted a three-month-long survey at the end of the year 2022 to obtain views of the telecom users.
In the survey, the TRAI asked for consumers’ views on the evolution of mobile tariffs, the efficacy of consumer protection regulations, and the efficacy of transparency framework in the mobile recharge offers published or advertised by telecom operators.
The TRAI issued a consultation paper in July this year and on Monday it issued the amended consumer protection rules in the exercise of the powers granted to it under Sections 11 and 36 Telecom Regulatory Authority of India Act of 1997.
In the newly amended regulation, the TRAI said: “The data from telecom operators reveals that a whopping 150 million users in India still use feature phones that highlights the need for the non-data-specific recharge options.”
In addition to asking telecom operators to offer non-data mobile recharge plans, the TRAI also amended the rules concerning the validity of recharge period and colour coding of recharge coupons among other things.
The TRAI has asked the telecom companies to increase the validity of special tariff vouchers (STVs) and combo vouchers (CV) from existing 90 days to a year. After the implementation of these new consumer protection rules, the consumers will have the option to recharge their mobile numbers for 365 days for these special and combo vouchers.
Moreover, in a big relief to mobile companies, the TRAI has also done away with the publishing of colour codes.
“colour coding of vouchers as it exists in the physical form has been done away with given the prominence of online re-charges,” said the telecom regulator.
In addition to these measures, the TRAI has also done away with the requirement to reserve top-up recharges in the denomination of 10 and its multiples but it has asked the telecom companies to retain the mandate of at least one top-up voucher of Rs 10.
Why TRAI removed compulsory data plans for feature phones
When TRAI solicited the views of mobile users and consumer organizations then it was clear that the practice of compulsory bundling of mobile data for all users was not as per the needs of some specific segments such as elderly persons, people residing in rural areas who mostly use basic phones or feature phones.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has mandated telecom companies to offer recharge plans exclusively for voice calls and messages without any compulsion to buy internet data.
Second, it also assessed the requirement for increasing the validity period of special tariff vouchers and combo vouchers from the existing 90 days and it also sought stakeholders’ views on the colour coding of vouchers and their denomination.
In the explanatory note, the TRAI made it clear that except for the state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL), all other telecom companies opposed separate voice and sms only packs while consumer organisations and other individuals favoured these types of mobile recharges.
However, following the consultation, the TRAI ruled out these objections as these voice and sms packs will be beneficial to a number of users, particularly those 150 million mobile subscribers, who use basic phones.
The TRAI noted that despite the telecom companies' push for data services, a significant number of users in rural areas and the elderly population are not inclined to use data.
Users having broadband wifi at home may not need compulsory mobile data plans
Moreover, even in urban areas, people have broadband wifi data at their homes and it would not be fair to force them to recharge with data packs when they do not need them.
Thirdly, for getting one-time passwords (OTPs) from registered mobile numbers given in banks, Aadhar, ITR filling reports etc, voice and sms packs are required. It was felt that voice and sms packs will be particularly beneficial when registered mobile number is not the primary number of user.
The TRAI also cited practices in some other countries such as the United States, Pakistan and Bangladesh where telecom companies such as Tello in the USA, Banglalink and Grameephone in Bangladesh and Telenor in Pakistan offer voice and sms packs and internet usage calculators on their websites and these offers allow the consumers to choose the most suitable offer for themselves.
It will not dent the government’s push for more data usage: TRAI
The TRAI also ruled out objections by telecom companies that voice and sms only packs will affect the government’s push for increasing data usage. It said the telecom companies can continue to offer bundled packs for voice, sms and mobile data or mobile data packs only.
