Jio, Airtel, Vodafone Idea oppose Trai's tariff plan transparency

Reliance Jio and older incumbents, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are finally on the same page on a key issue concerning transparency in tariff plans. All three telcos have strongly discouraged the sector regulator on the need to publish details of all plans, including those not on offer but active. They said publication of withdrawn offers, active only among a few users, would create confusion, leading to a surge in customer complaints.
In its submissions to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), Jio said if plans not available for subscription to new users are published alongwith all plans available, there’s “liable to be confusion for a customer, leading to unwanted complaints”. It added users “might like an unavailable plan, and complain to the Authority” if unable to subscribe to the same.

The limited set of existing users availing of such plans -- not otherwise on offer to new users -- it said, are “fully aware of applicable benefits, terms and conditions”.

Mirroring Jio’s views, Airtel said “display of all plans, including those not on offer,” would make “customers unhappy” and also impact “quality of services at telco call-centres” if awash with queries about plans no longer available for subscription.

Vodafone Idea backed their views, saying publishing details of “many withdrawn plans” would end up “consuming a lot of space, cost, and cause unnecessary confusion for consumers”.

Less than three years ago, the older carriers had sparred with Jio on the matter of transparency of tariff plans, with the incumbents saying that some offers, especially counter-offers to retain users, had to be kept confidential to protect competitive advantage. Mukesh Ambani-led Jio had then batted for all plans to be made public on a common platform.

Subsequently, in December 2018, the Telecom Disputes Settlement & Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) set aside a rule in Trai’s earlier predatory pricing regulation that required big telcos to report all tariffs in the interests of transparency and non-discrimination. It had then ruled that segmented offers and discounts offered in ordinary course of business to existing customers without any discrimination within the targeted segment did not amount to a tariff plan and needed no reporting in the manner prescribed for regular tariff plan.

The telecom tribunal’s verdict had allowed the then dominant players – Airtel and VIL – to continue offering customised discounts to retain subscribers, and they also wouldn’t be bound to report those to the regulator or make them public.

The Big 3 telcos now appear to have buried their differences in their latest submissions, in response to Trai’s recent paper on ways to boost transparency levels in all tariff-related communications of phone companies to protect consumers.

On Trai’s call for a standard template for publication of tariffs, Jio said any “further intervention by the Authority” would tantamount to micro regulation, and would “irreversibly affect the well turned out policies of forbearance and light-touch regulations”.

Airtel said “any intrusive regulatory framework on publication of tariff offers would create unnecessary hindrances, be counter-productive and restrict the ability of telcos to carry on their business”.

The telcos, in their submissions, have also told Trai that publication of tariffs via alternate channels such as Facebook, Whatsapp, Twitter, service provider apps would have serious limitations like screen size, character limitation, which need to be considered while disseminating critical information to consumers.