Now once again the issue of 28 day mobile recharge plan is hot in the country. AAP MP Raghav Chadha raised this issue in Parliament. Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia says that a 30-day plan is available. The government will now ask companies to promote it more.
At present, most of the mobile consumers use plans with validity of 28 days.
New Delhi. In view of the financial loss being faced by the users due to the validity of monthly mobile recharge plan being only 28 days in the country, the government will now ask to promote the 30-day recharge plan more. According to a report by Live Mint, Communications Minister Jyotiraditya Scindia said that its aim is to increase awareness about the 30-day plan among consumers. He said that 30-day plans are already available in the market, but now the government is urging companies to promote them more. Citing the instructions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Scindia said that it is mandatory for every operator to have a 30-day option in its plan bundle.
At present, most of the mobile consumers use plans with validity of 28 days, due to which they have to recharge 13 times in a year instead of 12. There has been dissatisfaction among consumers regarding this arrangement, because it puts the burden of an extra month’s recharge on them. Recently, AAP MP Raghav Chadha had raised this issue in Parliament. He suggested that the 28-day recharge plan should be discontinued and at least 30-day or one full month validity should be made mandatory for all monthly plans.
Government’s stance
The minister said, Jyotiraditya Scindia said that we cannot direct the operators to sell only 30-day plans, because they are free to decide their marketing and sales strategies. However, it is mandatory to have one-time plans, custom plans and 30-day plans in their portfolio. Operators are following this rule.
The government has created a ‘tariff forbearance’ system to address the issue of incoming calls being stopped after the recharge is over. Under this arrangement, TRAI does not decide the rates of telecom services itself, but gives freedom to the operators to decide the prices and terms of service based on market competition. This also includes how long the incoming services will continue after the recharge validity ends. Now TRAI is reviewing the validity period of recharge plan and the rules related to incoming calls. The Department of Telecommunications (DoT) has also sought detailed comments and suggestions from the regulator on this subject.
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