Now get full talk time on your mobile recharge

Mobile phone subscribers will now be able to avail of better value on their prepaid top-up, according to the new tariff order and direction issued by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).

According to the recent directives, subscribers are entitled to get full talk time on recharges and will have to pay administrative fee not exceeding Rs 2 per recharge and other applicable taxes.

The new measures will be effective from September 15, and are applicable for both new as well as existing subscribers.

Customers will also be insulated from any increase in tariff for a period of 12 months from the existing six month regime, according to Trai.

The regulatory body has ordered that a minimum protection period available to a customer from hike in any segment of the tariff will be increased to one year.

To make access to various offers and tariff plans much easier to the consumer, the regulatory body has mandated that no precondition, like sending an SMS, be laid down by the operator of any explicit action by the subscriber to avail of any kind of tariff reductions.

A consumer can now have the advantage of not paying a migration fee to enter into a new lifetime validity or unlimited validity plan with lower entry fee as compared with his or her existing lifetime validity plan or unlimited validity plan.

Trai has laid down that the service provider shall not levy any upfront payment or recurring charges or fees for allowing such migration.

Revealing more good news for lifetime customers, Trai has said that service providers shall not insist on recharges between periods lesser than six months in lifetime plans. Further, the service provider would have to remind the customer as and when the due date for the recharge draws near.

Keeping in mind the needs of the expanding rural telecom market, the authority has asked the operators to provide information on various tariff reductions as well as other key information in the local language of the area as well as English.

Trai has also restricted the number of ‘black out’ days, or the days when the schemes or discounted messaging and calls do not apply, to five days in a year. The ‘black out’ days will have to be clearly indicated in the package itself, and cannot be changed after the purchase.