The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) is attempting to expedite the process of implementation of the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulation 2012 say news reports.
Aimed at protect the interest of telecom consumers and particularly prepaid consumers, the regulator had asked operators to implement these guidelines in 45 days after being announced. This deadline has reportedly been extended to 75 days.
Under the new guidelines, TRAI has mandated that a start-up kit (SUK) needs to be provided to each consumer at the time of enrolment of the subscriber to the telecom service provided by a service provider. SUK will contain the SIM card, if applicable; mobile number; and an abridged version of the Citizen?s Charter provided under the Telecom Consumers Complaint Redressal Regulations 2012.
The vouchers offered by the service providers have been simplified and standardised into three categories- Plan Voucher, Top Up Voucher and Special Tariff Voucher (STV).
The Plan Voucher shall be used for enrolling a consumer into a tariff plan. A new consumer or an existing consumer can be enrolled into a tariff plan only through this Voucher.
The Top Up Voucher shall contain only monetary value in rupees and such monetary value shall be without any restrictions in terms of validity period or usage.
The ?Special Tariff Voucher? or ?STV? could alter one or more items of applicable tariff in the consumer tariff plan in terms of limited or unlimited usage of voice calls, SMS or data but does not provide any monetary value. The validity of the STV shall not exceed ninety days.
To promote further transparency and easy identification by consumers, a distinct colour band has been mandated to be provided on the reverse of the each voucher. The Plan Voucher will have a red colour band, the Top Up Voucher a green colour band and the Special Tariff Voucher a yellow colour band.
To ensure that a prepaid consumer is aware of the charges made on his last call or data usage, the service providers have been mandated to inform the consumer, through SMS, about the deduction from his account ? after every call made or after every data usage session. This information will include the duration of the call or usage, the charges deducted, balance available, quantum of data usage. The consumer can also get details of his tariff plan, available balance in his account and details of any value added service activated on his telephone number at any time from the service provider, free of charge.
To ensure that a prepaid consumer get their itemised usage of his account, the service providers have been mandated to provide the same within 30 days to the consumer on request and at a reasonable cost not exceeding Rs 50.
A provision has been made in the regulation to ensure that the charges for premium rate service are conveyed through a voice alert before materialisation of the call to such services. Similarly, on activation of any value added service by a consumer, he should receive information about the charges, validity period and the procedure to unsubscribe from the service.
