India’s Telecom regulator TRAI today released a Regulation on ‘Deactivation of Cellular Mobile Telephone Connections due to Non-usage’ where in it said that inactive prepaid mobile connections cannot be deactivated if they have a minimum balance of Rs.20 in their account and the time period for considering ‘inactive’ has been set at 90 days.
TRaid said that at present, there is lack of transparency in carrying out such disconnections of mobile connections by verious service providers. Prepaid mobile consumers are also not adequately informed regarding the terms and conditions of such disconnections. In the event of deactivation, the balance amount in the account of the consumer gets forfeited. In such conditions, deactiation has been causing inconvenience to consumers.
TRAI announced the Telecom Consumers Protection (Sixth Amendment) Regulations, 2013 seeks to protect the interests of mobile consumers while keeping in mind the major concerns of TSPs in the matter of deactivation of SIMs.
TRAI guidelines for Deactivation of Mobile Connection due to non-usage :
- The mobile connections of prepaid consumers shall not be deactivated for any period of non-usage less than 90 days;
- For the purpose of usage, a voice call/ video call (incoming or outgoing) or an outgoing SMS or a data usage or usage of Value Added Services, or payment of rental (in case of post paid connection) etc. shall definitely fall in the scope of activity, the service provider may prescribe any other activity as well.
- There shall be no deactivation if the balance in prepaid consumer account is Rs.20/- or more.
- An ‘Automatic Number Retention Scheme’ shall be implemented for prepaid consumers on payment of reasonable charges.
- A consumer whose connection is deactivated shall be given a grace period of 15 days within which he can reactivate the same number;.
- Consumers shall be transparently communicated the terms and conditions of deactivation of SIMs due to non-usage.
- The Regulations also mandate implementation of a ‘Safe Custody Scheme’ for postpaid consumers on payment of a reasonable charge. Such consumers will not be required to pay monthly rental during the period of safe custody.
raju February 26, 2013 at 12:13 pm
What about min.recharge for Rs 200 in 6 months? Are they going to deactivate if this is not performed?
Rohit February 26, 2013 at 12:38 am
That’s good move by TRAI.
One more thing team TelecomTalk, telecomtalk.Info is not accessible in UAE, It’s blocked
SS February 26, 2013 at 11:16 am
I don’t know about Etisalat but its working on Du. Checked with proxy servers of United Arab Emirates
Rohit February 26, 2013 at 12:01 pm
With du it’s working, but not with etisalat
SS February 26, 2013 at 12:55 pm
Thanks for the clarifications! I think Etisalat is feeling humiliated on articles of “Etisalat quit in India”.
nekib February 25, 2013 at 3:06 pm
Good move by TRAI. I have lost 3 numbers due to inactivity. Now we can secure our numbers.
abhay shekhawat February 25, 2013 at 8:02 am
simply port the desired number to bsnl and do the validity recharge of 34 rs and thus preserve the numbr for 5 months
S.Sudhakar February 26, 2013 at 10:18 am
That is ok. But costly.
Buy any provider offering per second rate. Have Rs.10 or more as balance. Then make 1 outgoing call and disconnect immediately (after charging) every 85th day. It will cost you maximum Rs.0.02 per second only.
If a single attempt costs Rs.0.10 (keeping 5 seconds for testing). Then for one year it will cost you only Rs.0.40 for four attempts. Simple.
But you have to put reminder or remember when the 85th day comes.
I regularly take all my SIM every 28th or 30th day and make one outgoing call to customer care IVR or so and disconnect. Simple.
rahul February 25, 2013 at 12:42 am
these guys will now activate vas services on your mobile to bring your balance below 20/-
they still do it without any reason … now they have all reason to do it..
there should be a provision that no company can activate any VAS service without receiving SMS from the customer
Manoj Abhigyan February 24, 2013 at 5:35 pm
Under new regulation, w.e.f. March 22, telecom operators will be allowed to deduct an amount, not exceeding Rs 20, every month based from balance amount in inactive mobile number till the number is not deactivated and the balance falls below Rs 20.
As per amended regulations, telecom operator will have to provide facility to pre-paid to reactivate numbers by paying reasonable amount.
“A consumer whose connection is deactivated shall be given a grace period of 15 days within which he can reactivate the same number,” TRAI added.
In case of post-paid customer, the new regulation says that telecom operator will have to provide safe custody scheme to the subscriber under which he/she can be charged an amount not exceeding Rs 150 for three months to retain the inactive number.
The new regulation also says that telecom operators should not charge monthly rental during from customers who opt for safe custody scheme. TRAI has barred telecom operators from deactivating mobile number of those post-paid customers who have paid advance rent for certain period.
S.Sudhakar February 26, 2013 at 10:30 am
Hey. I take all my extra SIMs out and make one outgoing call on the 28th or 30th day. So I think they will not charge any rental to my number since I am making call before 30 days of the previous transaction.
Amit February 24, 2013 at 11:53 am
good move TRAI keep it up
Pranajit February 23, 2013 at 7:06 pm
Had it come a month earlier.The sleazy Vodafone deactivated my sim without any notice.and with it gone my balance of Rs.183.50.And within a single day,the number was assigned to other subscriber.
Somewhat a reasonable move by insipid TRAI
spiderman February 23, 2013 at 5:32 pm
Is this means if I keep more than 20 Talk Time, the operator can’t de-activate it ?
(Think like I am not doing any activity, say for N years).. Need clarity on this
SS February 23, 2013 at 9:14 pm
No, they will push some new condition. As per now, there are 2 conditions-
1. Your number will be deactivated if you don’t recharge it with 200 (also consume the same) within 6 months.
2. Your number will be deactivated if your validity expires and you don’t recharge.
3. As everyone here is saying that they will activate VAS and bring your balance less than Rs.20. I also think they will now charge some amount for non usage every month on inactivate SIM to prevent deactivation and balance falls below Rs.20 forget your number!
Amit Sarkar February 23, 2013 at 5:23 pm
If my balance is Rs.20/- but non-usage more than 90 days then is this a deactivation condition or not ?
Jagannath:West Bengal February 23, 2013 at 4:59 pm
Finally TRAI make some noise and decide a perfect match for customers. But to have 20 rs balance u have to reacharge more than 20 rupees. Means if u want to activate ur sim ur mail balance should be recharged by 30r. So this is also a term and conditions.
abhay shekhawat February 23, 2013 at 4:18 pm
operter deactivats in 2 months bcoz they think that after 3 month subscriber wil do mnp
jeevi09 February 23, 2013 at 4:00 pm
When one does not use his mobile, there is no need to keep the number active. But one must know about the deactivation process. I was abroad for 5 months with IDEA connection. When coming back I was receving only incoming calls no out going calls. I recharged it with 47/- . It was not credited. But receiving incoming calls. Instead of going around IDEA customer care service, I threw the sim away.
binu February 23, 2013 at 3:53 pm
Provider il deduct ur balnce via value added service , u cnt keep 20rs min blnce,
Anirban Das February 23, 2013 at 4:03 pm
Good thinking.
AsitPaul February 23, 2013 at 4:31 pm
If they deduct Balance and activate VAS, that means ur number is Active. No fear of De-Activation!
Anirban Das February 23, 2013 at 8:29 pm
Great thinking,
Still, You have to check after 1-2 month,balance is still remaining or not.
dskushwaha February 23, 2013 at 4:37 pm
Amazing thoght
sivavathanan February 23, 2013 at 3:44 pm
Hi this is siva i want to change for your mts network .i followed customer care they not said proper answer to me they all said every fellows please wait for two days we send mail to our headoffice but rectified but now also not i got for port message reply .when i get port message reply .im very about of this network my no 9840660865 kindly arrange soon for port sms reply i following four past four month
Dhillon February 23, 2013 at 2:03 pm
They will put some VAS service on and than deduct your balance make it lesser than 20RS.
SS February 23, 2013 at 1:28 pm
Operators are definitely going to find some workaround for this order. Also operators have policy of deactivating numbers who haven’t done a minimum recharge of Rs.200.
btw, 90 days period is good for customers.
My vodafone number got deactivated after 60 days of non usage but that doesn’t mind me as my balance was -45 Rs. but the SIM cost was 399 Rs
Esmail February 23, 2013 at 1:14 pm
Most operators state that a subscriber has to do a minimum recharge of Rs.200 in a continuous span of 6 months to keep the number active, failing which he may lose the number. Why does the regulation not throw adequate light on this clause?
Sougata Das February 23, 2013 at 2:33 pm
I agree with you, Min recharge of 200 for 6 months. Again there will be more complicated .
Fahad February 23, 2013 at 12:33 pm
Looks like we are going to sail in the right direction… At least A student will be benefited with this rule..
Thumbs up
Arup Ghosh February 23, 2013 at 12:28 pm
Very good move by TRAI , People having multiple sims will not fear of getting deactivated.
Tharun George February 23, 2013 at 12:18 pm
Very very good move. Some operators make lots of money by sim deactivation.