TRAI releases Telecom Consumer Protection Amendment, wants companies to offer more voice and SMS-only plans

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released the Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026 today. The amendment concerns Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) for voice and SMS services and modifies the framework under the Telecom Consumer Protection Regulations. Special Tariff Vouchers are prepaid tariff products offered by telecom service providers (TSPs) for specific services and validity periods. TRAI now requires TSPs to offer more voice and SMS-only STVs for consumers who do not need bundled data services. Under the new regulations, TSPs must offer voice and SMS-only STVs with validities matching each validity period of 30 days and less than 30 days that is available for bundled voice, SMS and data STVs. TSPs must also provide at least one voice and SMS-only STV with validity renewable on the same date each month, or on the last day of the month if the date is unavailable. The mandated voice and SMS-only STVs must carry an appropriate and largely proportional reduction in tariff compared with bundled plans.

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