Call for a basic plan: Telcos must also offer non-data plans for users

Trai pushes telcos to offer cheaper voice-SMS plans, aiming to improve affordability and digital inclusion amid rising concerns over pricing and limited competition

Mobile telephony has travelled a long distance over the years in how customers pay for the services. From received calls that were chargeable and the regime of “calling party pays” (CPP), which made missed calls trendy, to the era of data packs, the telecom sector in India has experimented extensively with tariffs since cellphones first rang in the country in 1995. More than 30 years later, there’s a renewed call for the basics. Last week, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) asked operators to offer the choice of a tariff plan that enables customers to make calls and send text through SMS (short messaging service) without the frills of the data services available to smartphone users. The idea is to lower the tariff burden on a customer who wants access to a mobile phone for essential communication purposes to stay connected. Without a vanilla plan, which the regulator has proposed, many customers could be deprived of mobile telephony because telcos have been mostly selling data packs under various tariff plans. Typically data packs are pricier than standalone call-SMS tariff plans. 

It’s a valid ask because operators must cater to the entire user spectrum by offering options and choices so that telecom can serve as a critical engine for socioeconomic development and drive digital inclusion. Even as telecom tariff is under forbearance — that is telcos are free to determine tariffs based on market demand and competition — Trai as the regulator for the sector has the powers to check if tariffs are transparent and non-discriminatory. Since telecom is a necessity in today’s day and age, not just a commercial activity, operators must ensure that consumers, especially those in the low-income brackets, are not adversely affected. In that context, the latest Trai Draft Consumer Protection (13th Amendment) Regulation, 2026, is significant. This is a followup to a similar regulation issued in 2024. Following weak compliance and representations seeking “shorter-duration voice and SMS only” packs, Trai has now mandated that for every unique validity period offered under special tariff vouchers with voice, SMS, and data, the service provider shall also offer a corresponding special tariff voucher exclusively for voice and SMS at a lower price. 

The need to protect consumer interests is of extreme relevance because the telecom sector is at risk of turning into a duopoly. The number of private telcos has dropped from over 10 to just three in a little over a decade. Against that backdrop, while the commercial success of telcos is important for India to remain at the forefront of communication and technological advancements, consumers must not get short shrift in the process. While India is known to have some of the cheapest telecom tariffs in the world and the industry’s monthly average revenue per user (Arpu) is much lower than that in most other economies, tariff rationalisation by telcos must keep in mind consumers looking for affordable packs. The latest subscription numbers provided by Trai show room for growth, especially in underserved markets, including rural India. Teledensity in India was at 92.2 per cent at the end of January. In urban India it was at 149.84 per cent and in rural India at 59.83 per cent. Growth in underserved markets, to begin with, can be driven possibly by more affordable tariff plans.