Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI):No extra charges on blackout days !!!

  By- Harkirat Singh(facebook)(twitter)             

                                             The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI),a body which keeps an eye on all the telecom operators have directed to all mobile service providers to be more transparent on the BLACKOUT days !!
                                              
                                        WHAT ARE BLACKOUT DAYS ???

The term ‘blackout days’ refers to the days on which the service providers do not allow free or concessional voice calls/ SMS offered by them under any plan/ package. Certain guidelines are already in place as per which the number of Blackout Days shall not exceed five in a calendar year and no alteration in any such date is allowed after the package is subscribed by the consumer.TRAI said that Mobile operators should not charge customers on calls or SMSes beyond their existing tariff plans on ‘Blackout Days’ like Ganesh Chaturthi, Diwali, Holi and New Year etc.

But today the TRAI has issued additional measures which are now being mandated and are as follows:
 

• The charges for calls or SMSs on ‘blackout’ days shall not exceed the rate in the tariff plan in which the consumer is enrolled;
• Consumers shall be given intimation prior to start of every “blackout” day and the date/occasion of the “blackout” day shall also be intimated; and
• List of blackout days applicable for the calendar year shall be displayed on the website of service providers, before start of every calendar year and shall be published, service area wise, along with the tariff plans of the service provider, every six months.

The TRAI has mandated these directives because it found that that in some cases full information is not being conveyed to the subscribers in a transparent manner and there is no uniformity in the rates being charged from the consumers by different service providers on blackout days, as while some service providers are charging as per standard rate, others are charging as per the tariff plan rate or specified rate.

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