The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has confirmed that mobile operators have heeded to its directive that required them to offer at least one plan voucher (PV), one special tariff voucher (STV) and one combo voucher (CV) with 30-days or one monthly validity among their tariff offers.
The TRAI, in January 2022, had come up with the amendments to ‘Telecommunications Tariff Order’, mandating operators to offer 30 days vouchers and monthly renewable prepaid plans. The move was in response to the concerns raised by consumers regarding the tariff offers of 28 days’ validity by telecom service providers (TSPs), rather than tariff offerings having validity for 30 days or a month.
Meanwhile, the implementing the directive also means that the prepaid subscribers are able to avail of postpaid-like billing cycles, where the bill is generated every month, irrespective of the number of days in a month. Prior to the TRAI’s amendment, telcos were offering a majority of prepaid tariff packs with a validity period of 28/56/84 days. To this end, the consumers highlighted that with the 28-day validity pack, which was touted as a monthly pack, they had to do 13 recharges in a year. Therefore, the consumers requested the TRAI if the recharge can be done on a monthly basis so that only 12 recharges have to be made in a year.
