CHENNAI: After receiving complaints that special discounts were being provided to subscribers transferring between telecom service providers (TSP) using the mobile number portability (MNP) option, sector regulator Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) said on Thursday that such special MNP-specific tariffs were discriminatory and a violation of current rules.
It directed TSPs to ensure that their channel partners or distributors only offered tariffs officially reported by the TSP to TRAI.
The authority cited the Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999 which says that no TSP shall “in any manner, discriminate between subscribers of the same class and such classification of the subscribers shall not be arbitrary”.
However, customers joining the TSP through MNP would not constitute a “valid and reasonable classification, as the motive behind such classification is apparently to induce churn from the competitors’ network which is discriminatory”, it pointed out.