Telecom companies have rejected the suggestion of TRAI, saying that it will not be possible and such a move will be against consumer behaviour.
Airtel Jio Vi
India’s top telcos Vodafone Idea, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio on Monday asked TRAI not to interfere in matters related to fixing the validity period of prepaid tariffs.
According to a report by ET Telecom, telcos have urged telecom regulator TRAI not to interfere when it comes to fixing the prepaid tariff validity period and keep this particular issue under forbearance, stating that This type of interference is unwarranted and may result in disruption of mobile tariff structures which will harm the consumers.
Market leader, Jio has suggested that TRAI may issue an advisory asking telcos to offer prepaid plan vouchers, special tariff vouchers and combo vouchers to meet the needs and address complaints. Comes with 30-day validity. Currently 28 days validity is applicable.
What do other companies have to say?
Consumer Voice, the leading mobile consumer association, however, said it was skeptical and wanted Trai to standardize all tariff validity periods in variants of “1 day, 7 days, 15 days or 1 month” and all other validity periods in the market. make invalid.
However, telcos rejected the suggestion saying that this would not be possible and such a move would be against consumer behaviour, as most prepaid users opt to recharge after 2 or 3 days of the last date.
Bharti Airtel mentioned that the policy of tolerance on determining the validity of the tariff should continue, as changes in the tariff structure, such as validity, would compel the service providers. Other important price aspects of the tariff will have to be reset and this will upset the customers.
Jio also supported this view, saying that realizing the validity of the current recharge would not make business sense and it would force them to come up with a new price.
Vodafone Idea said any change in the existing 28, 56 and 84 days prepaid structure would be substantial and when it comes to consumer awareness, configuration in billing system, publication in own as well as third party channels, So it will require a lot of effort. That means a lot will have to change in it.
Further, cash-strapped telco Vodafone Idea has urged Trai to look into all such tariff-related issues holistically and end pending consultations on the basis of floor pricing for data service on priority.
The issue of validity caught up in May.
In May, TRAI had mentioned that it had received several complaints from users who felt that they were being cheated as they had to recharge 13 times in a year for the monthly plan. With regard to this issue, Jio regularly mentioned as part of its submissions that it had launched prepaid tariffs with validity of 30, 60 and 90 days which would address the concerns faced by TRAI.
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