The Hindu : Business : Telecom authority prescribes tariff plan validity

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Thursday, Jul 08, 2004

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Business

Telecom authority prescribes tariff plan validity

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 7. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India today prescribed a minimum validity period of six months for tariff plans offered by phone service companies.

The authority expects the new provision to curb the practice of phone operators offering new tariff plans and then suddenly withdrawing or revising them. Such moves upset the basic considerations on which the subscriber has selected a particular tariff plane.

Moreover, the subscribers are free to choose any other tariff plan, even during the six-month period.

The service providers have been told to accept and implement all such requests for change of plan immediately or from the start of next billing cycle.

These directives are contained in the 31st Amendment to the Telecommunication Tariff Order (TTO) 1999. The regulator took the decision after a consultation process which focused on the consumer concerns arising out of large number of tariff plans offered by the access providers.

These include confusion in the minds of consumers affecting their ability to make informed choice, the frequent and sudden changes/withdrawal of the plans, transparency in charging and migration.

The TRAI issued a consultation paper "Limiting the number of tariff plans by the Access Providers'' on March 8 this year discussing the various aspects of the problems and proposing a cap on the number of plans that can be offered at any point of time by the access providers.

In view of the responses received during the consultation process and the dynamism in the market on account of intense competition, the TRAI has decided not to change the existing cap of 25 tariff plans on offer.

At the same time, it also felt that there is a need to enhance the level of transparency in provision of service especially in the manner in which the tariffs are offered and implemented. The TRAI has, therefore, decided to incorporate the provisions in the TTO thereby making its compliance mandatory for the access providers.

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