TRAI has issued new guidelines for telecom companies by amending the telecom order last month. These guidelines of the telecom regulator will benefit the country's 150 million i.e. 15 crore 2G users, who will not need expensive recharge plans with data. TRAI officially published these guidelines on 24 December. Even after this rule, telecom companies have not yet launched voice and SMS only recharge plans.
TRAI's new guidelines
According to TRAI's new guidelines, telecom companies Airtel, BSNL, Jio and Vodafone Idea will have to keep a top-up voucher of at least Rs 10. Also, the requirement of denomination of Rs 10 denomination has been removed in the new order. Now telecom operators can issue top-up vouchers of any value of their choice. Apart from this, in view of the increasing popularity of online recharge, the regulator has decided to abolish the system of color coding for physical recharge.
TRAI had announced STV i.e. Special Tariff Voucher about two decades ago. By changing its rules, TRAI has increased the validity of Special Tariff Voucher from 90 days to 365 days. Now telecom companies can issue special tariff vouchers to users with validity up to 365 days. Apart from this, the telecom regulator has made new rules keeping in mind the more than 15 crore 2G users of the country.
The telecom regulator has asked telecom operators to launch voice and SMS only plans for 2G users. Data does not matter for 2G feature phone users. They are forced to recharge their numbers with expensive data plans. TRAI has ordered telecom companies to launch voice only plans for essential services of the users. At present, even for making calls or sending messages, users have to buy expensive plans with data.
When will the rule come into effect?
According to the reports received recently, these guidelines of TRAI have been implemented. Telecom companies have been given a few weeks' time to launch new recharge plans. In such a situation, it was expected that under this rule, cheap recharge plans could be launched at the end of January. However, no date has been set for this by the telecom regulator yet.
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