TRAI i.e. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India was est. in 1997 by an Act of Parliament to regulate telecom services and tariffs in India. and from that day TRAI is often working regularly and genuinely for objective for which it was formed.
In a press release on 18 sep. 2020, TRAI states that "It has been observed that existing measures adopted by telecom service providers are not transparent as they should be and that some of the telecom service providers are not prominently highlighting additional terms and conditions and are also collating the terms and conditions applicable to various tariffs on a single web-page and that the relevant information either gets lost in the maze of detail or becomes ambiguous and incomprehensible to consumers".
Assuming the situation, TRAI took a step forward to reach its main objective, which is to provide fair and transparent environment in telecoms and issues directions to tele-communications on tariff advertisements and publications on Friday 18th Sept, 2020.
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In directions TRAI clearly notifies the telecom companies that the main objective of TRAI is to safeguard consumer interests and create consumer awareness. Towards this objective, TRAI organizes consumer outreach programs in differnt part of countries , through which consumers can join such programmes while sitting at their home, shop or office. during the program, consumers were informed about their rights with regard to various aspects of telecom services. an awareness video from TRAI has also been updated on Youtube.
Looking at customers view, TRAI has also directed telecoms to publish servise area wise-within 15 days- and each tariff plan for postpaid and prepaid subscribers and also has to offer complete information about plans to customers without hiding any extra costs. Telecoms will also have to transparently inform subscribers about upfront cost along with the complete details like advance rentals, deposits, connection fees for pastpaid as well as prepaid top ups, extra tariffs, vouchers, etc.
Telcos are now also required to offer complete details of all charges that may be levied on consumers for usage of the said product, TRAI also asked telcos to disclose all promised service parameters such as data speeds in clear terms. Even details of 'Fair Usage Plan' will have to be communicated clearly.
Telecoms have been asked to submit a compliance report within 15 days to TRAI and also have to ensure by the 7th month after each quarter end. And on tariff advertisements, TRAI has directed to telecoms to highlight additional terms and conditions to provide a link to TRAI while disseminating tariff-related information, within the next 15 days.