Trai for policy on lifetime mobile validity

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) today called for consultations on the lifetime tariff plans, launched recently by mobile service providers. The move is aimed at evolving a regulatory policy on this issue.

Trai has also sought "information and data relating to traffic, cost and from all service providers that have announced and implemented lifetime validity plans to examine the sustainability and validity of these schemes". This is because, service providers had not submitted any data to support the viability of these offers, Trai said.

A consultation paper would be issued on January 15 and a final decision would be taken by the next month, Trai said.

The regulator also expressed concerns over the fact that lifetime validity plans raised a slew of issues, including long-term sustainability, its implications for an orderly growth of the sector and protection of subscriber interests.

Besides, the regulator also said it remained unclear as to what would happen to these plans if traffic patterns and the inter-connect use regime were to undergo substantial change.

Trai, however, gave a clean chit to the two-year validity plan that was first offered by Tata Teleservices, and said, according to data and the present IUC regime, the scheme would be viable. Tata Teleservices later turned its two-year offer into lifetime validity.