Telcos get 60 days to implement directive on monthly pre-paid plans
Mobile operators like Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have got another 60 days to implement a regulatory directive on offering monthly renewal pre-paid plans, with the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on Thursday issuing an amended telecom tariff order to this effect. Reliance Jio has already launched a monthly renewal pre-paid plan of Rs 259.
As per the revised order, the regulator has said that every telecom operator shall offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher, which shall be renewable on the same date of every month and if the date of such renewal is not available in a month, the date of renewal shall be the last date of that month.
The revised order came after operators sought clarification around recharge of the same date or every month. For instance, if a customer recharges on January 31, what should be next date of recharge, given that February has only 28 days? Similarly, if a customer recharges on March 31, May 31 or August 31, what should be the next date of recharge?
The telecom operators have also sought additional time of two months to implement the directive.In a January 27 directive, Trai had directed all the telecom operators to offer the pre-paid subscribers at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher, which shall be renewable on the same date of every month. Apart from this, the operators have to offer at least one plan voucher, one special tariff voucher and one combo voucher having a validity of 30 days. Trai had given 60 days to operators to implement the order, during which the required modifications in their billing systems can be done.
Implementing the directive means that pre-paid subscribers will also be able to avail post-paid like billing cycle, where the bill is generated every month, irrespective of the number of days in a month.
Currently, most of the pre-paid tariff packs come with a predefined validity period of 28/56/84 days, but the regulator has received several references and complaints regarding the 28-day validity pack, which is touted as a monthly pack. Customers have highlighted that with a 28-day validity pack, which is the most prominent tariff plan, they have to do 13 recharges in a year. If the recharge can be done on a monthly basis, only 12 recharges have to be made in a year.