TRAI makes mandatory for telecom players to retain one paise per second plan

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued a norm asking all telecom players to ensure their customers to mandatory provide a tariff plan of one paisa per second along with other offerings.

Issuing a tariff amendment order, the telecom regulator on Friday has made it mandatory for all telecom operators to offer at least one tariff plan each for both postpaid and prepaid subscriber with a uniform pulse rate of 'one second'.

"The service providers will be at liberty to offer alternative tariff plans with any pulse rate within the overall ceiling of 25 tariff plans," TRAI said in a statement.

However, telecom operators are free to offer a maximum 25 tariff plans at a time.

The rates for premium rate services currently levied by service providers are substantially higher as compared to the normal tariff applicable for a two-way communication due to the fact that the charges levied also include the price for content.

Keeping in view the fact that calls and SMS made for participating in competition and voting hardly contain any content, TRAI's Telecommunication Tariff (Fifty First Amendment) Order 2012 also mandated that tariff for such calls and SMS shall not exceed four times of the applicable local call or SMS charges.

The amendment also provides flexibility to service providers to apply revision in international long distance tariff uniformly for new as well as existing subscribers.

TRAI had issued a consultation paper in October last year on "Certain issues relating to Telecom Tariff" seeking views of stakeholders.

Most of the operators opposed when asked if one standard plan for all service providers particularly for a prepaid subscriber would be relevant in the present scenario of Indian telecom market.

--With IANS Inputs--