Reliance Jio And Bharti Airtel Launched Voice And SMS Only Plans After TRAI Rule Change

Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel, among the big telecom companies, have launched prepaid plans only for calls and SMS. Recently, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) changed the rules and made it mandatory for telecom companies to have separate plans for calls and SMS.

These prepaid tariff plans will be better for those customers who do not need data. Airtel has launched a new plan of Rs 499. It will get validity of 84 days with unlimited calls and 900 SMS. Apart from this, the company has introduced a plan of Rs 1,959. In this, unlimited voice calls and Rs 3,600 will be available with validity of 365 days. Reliance Jio has launched a plan of Rs 458. It will have a validity of 84 days with unlimited voice calls and 1,000 SMS. Apart from this, the company has also provided a plan of Rs 1,958. It will have a validity of 365 days with unlimited voice calls and 3,600 SMS.

Vodafone Idea’s Rs 1,460 plan will have a validity of 270 days with unlimited calls and 100 SMS. “The service provider shall offer a minimum of one special tariff voucher for voice calls and SMS, the period of validity of which shall not exceed 365 days,” TRAI had said in the amended Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations. This will benefit those users who do not use data. Along with this, TRAI has also allowed telecom companies to provide recharge vouchers of any value. However, these companies will have to issue a recharge coupon of at least Rs 10.

The telecom regulator has also taken some measures to deal with the problem of spam calls and messages. TRAI had also imposed fine on big telecom companies for failing to curb this problem. Even before this, fines have been imposed on these companies under the Telecom Commercial Communication Customer Preference Regulations (TCCCPR). TCCCPR was implemented in 2010. Its purpose is to protect subscribers from spam calls and messages. TRAI’s new rule called message traceability has also been implemented from December 11.