The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a consultation paper titled 'Review of Telecom Consumer Protection Regulation (TCPR), 2012.' The regulatory body has talked about voice and SMS-only vouchers. The Indian telecom industry has gone through a major evolution since Jio came in 2016. Consumers had the option to choose between data, SMS, and voice-only vouchers before Jio. That option doesn't exist anymore. The plans available for customers today bundle everything from data, voice, and SMS for customers.
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To make matters worse for consumers, the telcos recently hiked prices. This has left the customers wanting a voice-only voucher more desperately. In some scenarios, consumers don't need any data from their mobile connection at all. They get no option but to pay for it at the end of the day.
TRAI said, "Despite the prevalence of bundled plans that include both data and voice & SMS services, many consumers find themselves paying for data they do not use."
Thus, in the consultation paper, TRAI is looking to understand whether these plans should be brought back for the consumers. The regulatory body additionally surveyed to see if these plans are what consumers want.
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This is what the body said in its paper - "Based on the feedback received from consumer survey, it is noticed that tariff offers available in market are broadly bundled tariff offerings having mix of voice, Data, SMS and OTT services etc. which may not fulfill the requirements of large number of subscribers as all services may not be required by all subscribers and there is a perception that subscribers are being made to pay for services that are not required by them. Besides, there is a perception among consumers that the bundled offerings of telecom services act as a constraint on the choice of subscription of telecom tariff offers by the subscribers."
This consultation paper from TRAI may result in the arrival of product specific tariff offerings from telcos, such as voice only plans.
