TRAI issued Orders on Lifetime Tariff Plans

New Delhi, Mar 22 (UNI) To protect the interests of subscribers who make an upfront payment in lieu of certain promised features including the validity and also to bring out more clarity to the concept of lifetime validity, the Telecom regulator today considered it necessary to issue orders in this regard.

In the case of tariff plans offered or marketed as having lifetime or unlimited validity in lieu of an upfront payment, subscribers to such plans shall continue to get service as long as the service provider is permitted to provide such telecom service under the current license or renewed license.

For tariff plans other than plans with lifetime validity, the subscribers to such plans shall also continue to get service during the entire promised validity period.

The service providers who offer tariff plans with lifetime validity or unlimited validity or life-long validity shall inform the subscribers of the month and year of the expiry of current license.

The right of the subscribers to choose any tariff plan at any point of time has been reiterated.

Hike in tariff has been prohibited for any tariff item specified in the lifetime tariff plans during the entire lifelong validity period.

In the case of tariff plans other than plans with lifetime validity, which has a component of upfront payment, the service providers are not allowed to hike tariffs during the promised validity period of such plans, TRAI said.

TRAI issued 43rd Amendment to Telecommunication Tariff Order today covering various aspects arising out of tariff plans having longer validity period including lifetime validity.

This Order is a culmination of the process of consultation initiated by the authority with the issue of consultation paper on January 16 this year followed by open house discussions held in Bangalore and Delhi in February, 2006.

UNI RT ARB BS1447