Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has taken a major policy step in the interest of crores of mobile subscribers of the country. Officially notifying the 'Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026', TRAI has directed all major telecom operators—Reliance Jio, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea (Vi)—to mandatorily make available in the market Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) offering only calling and SMS facilities. For a long time, telecom companies were essentially bundling 1GB, 1.5GB or 2GB of data per day along with voice calling and SMS in most of their recharge plans. As a result, even those consumers who do not use the Internet at all—especially the elderly, rural citizens and low-income groups with basic keypad/feature phones—were forced to reluctantly purchase expensive data bundle plans. After this new order of TRAI, now customers who need only calling and messaging will get recharge options at cheap rates without data. Mandatory Validity and Pricing Rules: Cheap packs with validity of 30 days and less are mandatory TRAI found that even the isolated data-free plans offered by telecom operators were limited to only the heavy plans of long duration (84 days or 365 days), which caused problems to low-budget consumers. Under the new rules, the regulator has set strict guidelines: Packs with a validity of 30 days and less: Companies will have to offer only Voice-and-SMS vouchers for each validity period of 30 days and less than 30 days (e.g. 14 days, 21 days, 28 days) for which they offer data bundle plans. Monthly renewal on the same date: Operators must offer at least one voice-SMS plan that automatically renews on the same date of every month (if it is not that date of the month, then on the last day of the month), so that the customers are free from the 28 day cycle. Minimum of one long term option: It is mandatory to have at least one long term only voice-SMS plan with validity of more than 30 days in the portfolio. Proportional Tariff Reduction: TRAI has clarified that the prices of data-free plans cannot be kept almost at par with data-bundled plans. There should be a real and practical reduction in plan prices in proportion to the removal of the data component. Telcos Opposition vs Consumer Protection: TRAI rejected the companies' arguments. Before finalizing this amendment, TRAI had conducted an extensive consultation process, in which responses of more than 1,132 stakeholders were recorded. Reliance Jio, Airtel and Vodafone Idea had strongly opposed the proposal: Companies' argument: Operators argued that 4G and 5G networks work on Internet Protocol (VoLTE/VoNR), where voice itself runs like a data application. Apart from this, companies said that cheap voice packs can increase spam calls and fraud and can lead to unexpected charges on customers due to background data usage. Side of consumer forums: Consumer organizations presented the facts that there are about 30 to 35 crore feature phone users in the country, out of which 10 to 15 crore people do not use the internet. These consumers are unnecessarily spending ₹15,000 to ₹20,000 crore annually on data services they do not need. Data charges were being charged even in hilly and remote areas where network connectivity was weak. Ignoring the objections of the companies, TRAI considered the consumer's right to choose as paramount and ruled that no customer can be forced to buy an unwanted service. Impact on 20 Crore Non-Data Users: Who will get direct benefits and how? The most positive impact of this decision will be seen at the bottom of the pyramid of the Indian mobile market: Elderly and pensioners: Those who keep the SIM active only to talk to loved ones on phone or receive bank OTP (SMS), their monthly mobile expenses will reduce significantly. Secondary SIM holders: Users who keep the second SIM in dual-SIM phones only for incoming calls or banking verification will be able to keep their number active without expensive data recharge. Transparency and publicity: TRAI has directed that telecom companies will prominently display these cheap voice-SMS plans on their websites, mobile apps and retail sales points, so that no operator can hide these plans. While this decision of TRAI may put a slight pressure on the average revenue per user (ARPU) of telecom companies, common citizens will get real freedom to choose the plan as per their pocket and need.
