Telecom companies refund subscribers

The refund was made following a Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) order on September 7, 2007, which mandated that CLIP charges could be levied only after obtaining "explicit consent" from the subscriber.

The service providers refunded 1,96,275 subscribers for the intervening period between September 7, 2007, and the date of compliance with the direction, according to a release issued by TRAI today.

Some of the telecom service providers were charging CLIP by making it a compulsory item of the tariff plans.

TRAI issued a direction on August 23, 2007, mandating it cannot be made a compulsory chargeable item in any tariff plan.

This meant that if a service provider wants to charge for CLIP, it could be levied from only those subscribers who want to avail the facility and also on obtaining their explicit consent. The direction later became effective from September 7, 2007.