TRAI provides clarity on tariff plan with month-wise recharge date

TRAI on Thursday issued a clarification on its January directive that had asked telecom operators to come out with at least one tariff plan which can be renewed on the same date of every month, and granted additional 60 days to players to ensure compliance.

Following industry representations, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) clarified that in case the same date for such renewal is not available in a month, the date of renewal will be the last date of that month.

It has inserted a clause saying, "Every telecom service provider shall offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher which shall be renewable on the same date of every month, and if the date of such renewal is not available in a month, the date of renewal shall be the last date of that month."

For example, if the date of renewal is January 31, the next date of recharge will be February 28 or 29 (depending on whether or not it is leap year), and the subsequent dates will be March 31, April 30 and so on.

When contacted, Kaushal Kishore, Advisor (Finance and Economic Analysis), TRAI, said that the move is consumer-friendly, and offer will ensure convenience to users as the same date for recharge is easy to recall.

"Operators will be given 60 days to comply with the directive, in the wake of the clarification," Kishore told PTI.

TRAI had received references from Telecom Service Providers (TSPs) who wanted clarity on the next date of recharge in case a subscriber recharges the voucher on 31st of the month; and the next date of recharge in case a subscriber recharges the voucher on any day between 29-31 January.

They had also raised the issue of two months time (granted by TRAI in January) for the implementation of the telecom tariff order "being not adequate due to technical infeasibility", and pushed for extra time for the implementation of the order.

TRAI had earlier said that every TSP shall offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher having a validity of thirty days. It has also stated that every operator will offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher which shall be renewable on the same date of every month, and this bit has now been clarified.

The country's largest telecom operator Reliance Jio earlier this week launched a Rs 259-plan that comes with calendar month validity to help prepaid users remember the recharge date.