TRAI has issued a consultation paper itled Issues Arising out of Plethora of Tariff Offers in Access Service Provision, in order to review the regulatory framework related to tariff transparency.
TRAI is of the view that the existing provisions of the Telecommunications Tariff Order, 1999 need certain amendments to make the tariff offers in access service provision more transparent.
According to the changes proposed by TRAI, the minimum protection period for users from tariff hikes in all segments should be increased to 12 months from the current six months. Subscribers with validity longer than a year and lifetime subscribers would be protected from tariff hikes for their respective validity periods.
In case of straight tariff reduction, where the declared intention of the operator is to extend the benefit to all subscribers without any liabilities, TRAI has recommended that there should not be any pre-condition of “explicit positive action on the part of subscribers”. Unlike now, customers will not have to confirm to the service provider their inclusion in a cheaper tariff plan. This proposal assumes significance in light of recent announcements by Vodafone and Idea of making available reduced domestic long distance charges only to those subscribers who requested for it through an SMS.
The regulator has also stated that if the subscriber of a lifetime/unlimited validity plan opts for a new lifetime/unlimited validity plan with lower entry fee, the operator should not levy an upfront/recurring charge on the migration.
Further, no fixed fee other than taxes should be levied on recharges intended exclusively for the provision of talktime. However, service providers can charge a nominal fee, not exceeding Rs 2 per topup, as administrative cost.
Finally, if the terms of a tariff plan include a mandatory recharge at regular intervals, that interval should not be less than six months.
