Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has bluntly told Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vodafone Idea to bring separate STV i.e. special tariff voucher for voice calling and SMS for the users. TRAI has refused to reconsider the recently released new guidelines, which means that telecom companies will have to come up with such a plan for 2G users, which is not data centric. At present, telecom companies offer data to the users in every plan, due to which feature phone or 2G users are forced to do very expensive recharges.
TRAI bluntly
In an interview with PTI, TRAI Chairman Anil Kumar Lahoti said that while it is beneficial to promote data usage among users, it should not be deliberately imposed on them. TRAI's job is to keep in mind the interests of the industry as well as the users and ensure that they have the option to pay only for the services they really need. TRAI has bluntly told the telecom companies to do their marketing, we will not stop you, but users should also have the option of providing the services they need.
Cheap plans in the interest of users
Recently, TRAI issued new guidelines and made it mandatory for telecom companies to have special tariff vouchers for voice and SMS. Apart from this, the validity for special tariff voucher has been increased from 90 days to 365 days. With this, telecom companies can issue 365 days special tariff voucher for the users.
Not only this, TRAI has removed the requirement of color coding for recharge coupons in its guidelines. Also, the requirement to keep the recharge voucher in denomination of Rs 10 has also been reduced. However, TRAI has maintained the requirement of carrying a Rs 10 recharge coupon while maintaining the Telecom Order of 2012. These guidelines of TRAI will provide relief to crores of mobile users of the country. Users will now have the option of low cost voice and calling recharge.
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