TRAI or Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued a new regulation that mandates telecom companies to offer at least one recharge voucher or combo voucher with a validity of 30-day validity.
The regulatory body said that this will help users recharge their mobile connection on approximately the same date every month. Acting on the grievance of customers, telecom companies have been directed to comply with the order within 60 days from the day of notification of the rules.
Though according to TRAI, the telecom companies have been forthcoming in terms of disclosing to users that the recharge periods are 28 days, instead of using a misguiding ‘monthly’ word in their prepaid plans that do not actually offer month-long benefits.
To recall, TRAI had floated a consultation paper last year suggesting the change, however, telecom companies and COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) were of the opinion that this decade-old process doesn’t require a change since most users are used to the 28-day recharge cycle.
What is the problem with the 28-days recharge cycle?
Firstly, the 28 or 56 or 84-days recharge coupons aren’t going anywhere as TRAI has only suggested that the telecom companies should offer an option of recharge coupons that offer 30-days validity. This means that this would be an additional option over and above the options that the telecom companies are offering currently.
Most telecom companies in India have been offering 28-day recharge vouchers till now and since it is almost a month, it is perceived as “monthly recharge”. While on the face of it, there is no harm, however, if you take a minimum of 2 days out of every month then you end up getting almost a month extra in a year.
The new ruling will remove the scope of thirteen monthly recharges in a year which means that as a user you’ll have to do one less recharge.
So, what changes now?
We might get an additional recharge option offering a true month-long validity and if you use this option then you’ll end up recharging your account just twelve times a year and your recharge date would remain approximately similar throughout the year.
Since you’d be getting services for a couple of days “extra”, there are chances that this new monthly recharge coupon might be slightly costly compared to the 28-day coupon. However, in all probability, the difference should be minimal, if the telecom operators play fair.
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