NEW DELHI: The telecom regulatory body TRAI on Wednesday came down heavily on private telecom companies over their decision to switch off connections of subscribers who don’t go in for the mandatory monthly recharge plans, and directed them not to immediately disconnect services of customers with “sufficient” pre-paid balance.
The regulator said that it has received complaints from subscribers that they are being sent text messages seeking “mandatorily” recharge of their prepaid accounts in order to continue to avail the services, despite having “sufficient balance”.
“If there is sufficient money in the account and despite that people are being told that the services will be disconnected, it is not correct,” said TRAI chairman R S Sharma, adding that the directive in this regard has gone out to operators on Tuesday.
Earlier this month, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea introduced minimum recharge plans of Rs 35, Rs 65 and Rs 95 — all offering 28 days validity — to boost their average revenue per user (ARPU) and focus on profitable customers. It was reported that as many as 25 crore subscribers might lose their connections from this decision.
TRAI, which met the operators earlier this week, has also asked operators to “duly inform subscribers in a clear and transparent manner the date on which the current validity of existing plan would expire and the manner in which the subscriber can opt for the available plans including minimum recharge plan using subscriber’s available pre-paid account balance or otherwise”.
It also asked operators to provide all this information to subscribers through SMS immediately and “not later than 72 hours”.
The Indian telecom sector has seen major changes over the past couple of years. With data getting cheaper and calls becoming almost free since the arrival of Reliance Jio, telcos are struggling to generate revenue. An operator was quoted as saying that they don’t mind losing some freeloaders who were anyways not generating any cash for them.
TRAI to float consultation on spectrum issues
Acting on issues raised by telecom operators on the sharing and leasing of spectrum, TRAI said it will float consultation on general principles related to spectrum, including its valuation methodology in the coming year. “We have received suggestions on spectrum-related issues, policy relating to spectrum auctions, reserve price valuation methodology, spectrum leasing etc,” TRAI chairman R S Sharma said.