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New Delhi: Price-conscious mobile consumers will now have the option to buy voice and SMS-only tariff packs as the telecom regulator has mandated telcos offer such no-frills service options to customers. The move is expected to benefit India’s near-150 million remaining 2G users, dual SIM owners and the elderly, and those living in rural areas that don’t want to pay more for current data-bundled offerings, officials said. Trai ’s move, though, is not in sync with the all-out efforts of India’s two leading telcos - Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel - to push 2G users to go 4G, or lately, even 5G to boost average revenue per user (ARPU).
Advt Four years ago, telecom market leader Reliance Jio had called on the government to hasten policy measures to ensure a rapid eclipse of 2G mobile technology in India. Jio had called 2G technology an obstacle that was preventing Indian consumers from fully benefiting from the digital revolution. More recently, Reliance Industries Chairman, Mukesh Ambani, had said rising migration to 5G services would free up more 4G capacity, enabling India’s No 1 telco to attract the bulk of the remaining 2G users to 4G services.
Sunil Mittal-led Airtel, too, has been rapidly migrating its 2G users to 4G to boost revenues. Vi, too, is embarking on a massive network expansion of its 4G operations to migrate 2G users to 4G. So, Trai’s latest mandate for voice and SMS-only packs is slated to slow down the migration a bit, and impact ARPU growth.
Trai, on its part, has mandated telcos to come out with such tariff packs, despite opposition from private carriers who said there is no need for such packs as data has become the central element to all modern communications. But state-run BSNL, which doesn’t even have a pan-India 4G operation, has supported introduction of voice and SMS-only packs. The mandate comes as part of the Telecom Consumers Protection (Twelfth amendment) regulations, 2024 and Telecommunications Tariff (seventieth amendment) order 2024.
The mandate will come into effect after 30 days. Advt “The authority is of the view that a separate special tariff voucher (STV) for voice and SMS in addition to existing data only STV and bundled offers shall be mandated,” Trai said in the order. The regulator felt that mandating voice and SMS-only STVs would provide an option to subscribers who do not require data.
“This in anyway will not reverse the government initiative of data inclusion as service providers are at liberty to offer bundled offers and data-only vouchers,” the regulator said. Earlier, the telecom companies had told Trai that the current tariff plans have been designed to cater to the needs of all shades of users, which is why, there was no need to introduce voice or SMS-only packs. Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi) have said that data had become the central element to modern communications.
Unlimited data and voice allowance in bundled offerings have in fact caused exponential rise in usage against the pay-as-you-go model which existed earlier. But as per Trai, data collected from various telcos revealed that still a significant segment, about 150 million subscribers, continued to rely on feature phones for communications. “This indicates an ongoing demand for voice and SMS-only plans, as these users primarily require basic telecommunication services viz.
only voice and SMS,” it added. There are international practices, like in Bangladesh, US and Pakistan, wherein such packs are offered, Trai added. Apart from that voice and SMS-only packs, the regulator has increased the cap on validity period for STV and combo vouchers to 365 days from the current 90 days for the benefit of consumers.
Trai has also done away with the colour coding of vouchers in physical form as most recharges happen online. ET Bureau Published On Dec 24, 2024 at 07:35 AM IST Telegram Facebook Copy Link Be the first one to comment. Comment Now COMMENTS Comment Now Read Comment (1) All Comments By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post By commenting, you agree to the Prohibited Content Policy Post Find this Comment Offensive? Choose your reason below and click on the submit button.
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