The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India i.e. TRAI will now examine the prepaid recharge plans of telecom service provider companies. Because, TRAI recently ordered the telecom companies to give their users a separate option of Voice + SMS only pack.
According to a CNBC report, after this the companies released new tariff plans only for voice calling + SMS. But, these were launched at the same price as the data plan and only data was removed from it. That is, the old plan was updated by removing the data, but the price was not reduced.
Calling+SMS only prepaid tariff plans of companies
Airtel Prepaid Plan
| Price | ₹499 |
| Validity | 84 days |
| Offer | Unlimited voice calling and 900 SMS |
| Price | ₹1559 |
| Validity | 365 days |
| Offer | Unlimited voice calling and 3600 SMS |
Jio Prepaid Plan
| Price | ₹458 |
| Validity | 84 days |
| Offer | Unlimited voice calling and 1000 SMS |
| Price | ₹1959 |
| Validity | 365 days |
| Offer | Unlimited voice calling and 3600 SMS |
V-I Prepaid Plan
| Price | ₹1460 |
| Validity | 270 days |
| Offer | Unlimited voice calling and 100SMS |
The new tariff plan does not benefit consumers The new tariff plan of the companies will not benefit the customers, but only harm. For example, earlier Airtel's annual plan was Rs 1999. In this, customers were getting 24 GB data, but now the company has removed 24 GB data from it and is offering this plan to customers only in the name of voice plan.
Customers should get cheaper packs without data TRAI wants customers to get data-free packs at cheaper prices, as many users use the phone only to make calls. But, they have to recharge for calling+SMS with existing data pack, which is very expensive.
Many users use two SIMs, one for calling and one for internet, but they have to recharge for both. In such a situation, the government issued new guidelines and ordered the issuance of SMS plans along with calling only, thus directly benefiting nearly 30 crore mobile users in the country.
Jio-Airtel-VI has made recharges 25% more expensive. The country's three major telecom companies – Vodafone-Idea, Jio and Airtel – have hiked recharge prices by 25% from July 3 and 4 this year. After Jio's Rs 239 plan went down to Rs 299 and Airtel's most economical recharge plan from Rs 179 to Rs 199, demand for data-free packs has started to rise.
Telecom companies have been fined for failing to stop spam calls
Telecom Regulatory Authority of India i.e. TRAI has fined Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea (VI) and BSNL for failing to stop spam calls and messages. This information has been given in the report of Economic Times.
Apart from the four big companies, TRAI has also imposed fines on several smaller telecom operators. TRAI has imposed this penalty on all companies under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR). In the latest round, TRAI imposed a total penalty of ₹12 crore on all the companies.
Total penalty on telecom companies is ₹141 crore
Including earlier fines, the total penalty on telecom companies is ₹141 crore. However, the companies have not yet paid this penalty. TRAI has requested the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) to collect the money by encashing the bank guarantees of the companies, but the DoT's decision on this is still pending.
Image Credit: (Divya-Bhaskar): Images/graphics belong to (Divya-Bhaskar).
