Issuing clarification on its earlier order on monthly prepaid recharge, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has given another 60 days to the telecom service providers to comply with the new directive. The telecom sector regulator had in January asked companies to come out with at least one tariff plan which can be renewed on the same date of every month.
What is the matter?
Currently, Telecom Service Providers (TSPs), such as Airtel and Vodafone IdeaOffer recharge packages with validity of 24 days, 28 days, 56 days and 84 days. As of now, there is no such recharge which can cover the entire 30 days or 31 days month.
Customers have been complaining that they will have to do 13 recharges in 12 months with a monthly validity of 28 days. TRAI had issued a directive in January to resolve the issue.
What is TRAI’s directive?
In January, Trai said in a notification, “Every telecom service provider shall offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher with a validity of thirty days.” It also mandated TSPs to provide a scheme that is renewable on the same day of every month. Companies were asked to comply with the directive within 60 days from the date of notification.
Now there is confusion in the matter of getting recharge on 31st of a month and not getting the same date in the next month. Providing clarity on this, TRAI on Thursday amended the order and said, “Every telecom service provider shall offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher which is renewable on the same date of every month.” and if the date of such renewal is not available within a month, the date of renewal shall be the last date of that month.”
The telecom regulator has given another 60 days to comply with the new directive.
What if the recharge date is not available in the next month?
The new instruction provides clarity on the case where the recharge date in the subsequent month is not available. It states that if the recharge is done on 31st of the month, say 31st January, and the same date is not available in the next month (February), then the recharge will be done on 28th and 29th February, whichever is the last day of the month. .
Impact on customers?
In full month recharge, customers will have to do 12 recharges in a month, one less recharge as compared to the existing 13 recharges. This can help customers save some money if the charges are not increased to match the existing rates on monthly recharges.
Also, it is easy to remember the same date of recharge. If the due date is the same every month, then the customers will not get confused about the recharge date.
The downside could be that when a customer recharges on January 31 and the next due date is February 28 or 29, he loses two days due to reduction in the number of days in February.
issues in implementation
When TRAI issued the directive in January this year, telecom service providers had said that the two-month time given by the regulator for implementation of the telecom tariff order was insufficient “due to technical inefficiency”. He insisted on additional time for its implementation. count.
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