TRAI issues Consumers Protection Regulations 2024 and Telecommunication Tariff Order 2024
The Telecom
Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) today issued “Telecom
Consumers Protection (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2024" (08
of 2024) (referred to as “the regulations”) and “Telecommunication Tariff
(Seventieth Amendment) Order (referred to as “TTO”), 2024” (02 of 2024). The
full text of the regulation and TTO are available on TRAI’s website.
TRAI had released a
consultation paper on 26th July 2024, to review the
Telecom Consumer Protection Regulations, 2012 (TCPR).
This consultation
paper specifically addressed the issues of choice of tariff availability,
validity of vouchers, colour coding of vouchers and denomination of vouchers in
the interest of concerned stakeholders i.e. consumers and Telecom service
Providers (TSPs). An Open House Discussion (OHD) on the consultation paper was
held through video conferencing on 21st October 2024.
The salient
features of the regulations are as under:
(i) To mandate separate Special Tariff Voucher (STV) for Voice
& SMS to give consumers an option to pay for the services they require in
general and to provide benefit to certain segments of consumers especially the
elderly persons and those living in rural areas;
(ii) the cap on validity period for STV and Combo Vouchers (CV) has been
increased from existing ninety (90) days to three hundred and sixty-five (365)
days for the benefit of consumers;
(iii) colour coding of vouchers as it exists in the physical form has
been done away with in view of the prominence of online re-charges;
(iv) The reserving of denomination of ₹10/- and multiple thereof
only for top-up voucher has been done away with, while retaining mandate of at
least one Top Up voucher of denomination of ₹10/- provided by TTO (50th
amendment) Order 2012.
The amendments have been made in definitions of STV and CV in the
Telecommunication Tariff Order, 1999, to align with the amendments made in
TCPR.
The Explanatory Memorandums are attached with Telecom Consumers
Protection (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2024 and Telecommunication Tariff
(Seventieth Amendment) Order, 2024.