In India, telecom service providers or TSPs have a habit of offering plans with quirky durations, such as 28 days, 56 days or 84 days, rather than round these numbers out so as to make these plans last for the entire duration of the month.
This is not the case with just one ISP, like Jio or Bharti Airtel; rather, everyone seems to follow this method, be it for their ease or to make users spend a little bit more to get their plans to last for the entire duration.
It seems the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken notice of this issue, which plagues users by and large, and has decided to release a consultation paper for the ease of the users and to gain an insight into what the issue is.
30 Days Instead Of 28 Days, What TRAI Wants To Know
The TRAI on Thursday announced that it would be releasing a consultation paper after receiving a lot of references from a large number of consumers who are unhappy with regulators offering 28 days plans rather than 30-day plans, which would last the entirety of the month.
For those of you unaware, as per the regulatory framework for tariff, the tariffs for telecom services are forborne except for rural fixed-line services, international private leased circuits and domestic leased circuits, national roaming services and mobile number portability services.
Despite this, however, as per the feedback that had been received from consumers via various channels, it is felt that these plans are not in the best interest of the consumers. To combat this, a consultation paper has been released to explore methods of bringing a favourable change.
Some options listed out include the provision of vouchers from ISP providers and sync their validity issues so as to be in the best interest of consumers.
The consultation paper, which is named “Validity Period of Tariff Orders”, intends to seek inputs from shareholders. Written comments and counter comments are welcome from the same by June 11 and June 25, respectively.
These comments will decide whether or not changes are to be made for the tariff plans and whether they will be synced to provide support for the entirety of the month, which, if it does happen, will be in the best interest of the consumer.
