New Delhi: Telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio, BSNL, Vodafone Idea are now offering 30 days recharge vouchers and vouchers renewable on same date of every month. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Monday said that such plans are available on the websites of mobile operators and consumers can subscribe to them.
“Subscribers of Telecom Service Providers are hereby informed about the availability of 30 days vouchers and vouchers renewable on same date of every month. They may make use of these vouchers which were launched on demand of consumers at large,” TRAI said in a press release.
The move is in line with the regulator’s January order that required all mobile operators to offer at least one plan voucher (PV), one special tariff voucher (STV) and one combo voucher (CV) with 30-days/monthly validity.
In January, TRAI had issued amendments to Telecommunications Tariff Order, making it compulsory for telecom operators to offer 30 days vouchers and monthly renewable prepaid plans. It had issued the order after receiving references from consumers expressing concerns regarding the tariff offers of 28 days’ validity by telecom service providers (TSPs), rather than tariff offerings having validity for 30 days or a month.
“Every Telecom Service Provider shall offer at least one Plan Voucher, one Special Tariff Voucher and one Combo Voucher which shall be renewable on the same date of every month and if the date of such renewal is not available in a month, the date of renewal shall be the last date of that month,” TRAI’s January directive stated.
Prior to the TRAI order, all telecom operators were offering a majority of prepaid tariff packs with a validity period of 28/56/84 days. This was highlighted by several users who complained that with the 28-day validity pack, they had to do 13 recharges in a year.
