A few days ago Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Airtel also changed the benefits available in the recharge plans along with the price hike. However, despite this change, companies have no such recharge plan…
A few days ago Reliance Jio, Vodafone Idea and Airtel also changed the benefits available in the recharge plans along with the price hike. But despite this change, companies are not offering any recharge plans that only offer voice calls and SMS facilities. Because according to companies, customers do not need such plans. This is what leading telecom companies recently claimed while replying to TRAI's consultation paper titled “Telecom Consumer Protection Regulation (TCPR) 2012”.
The main objective of this consultation paper was to understand whether there is a need for a pack of SMS and voice call facilities in the market today. Because, at the moment this type of pack is not available with any telecom company. So it is very important for the customers to know whether they want such recharge plan or not.
In this regard, Reliance Jio said that in its survey, 90 percent of users said that their mobile plans are affordable and more than 56 percent of users feel that the plans with various benefits are very good for them. Besides, the company also said that users would also like to get data benefits in their plans, as they cannot make UPI payments without data. So thinking of the users telcos are offering plans with SMS, voice calls and low amount of data.
Jio also feels that if plans are offered without data, users will be digitally disconnected, thereby significantly impacting the country's digital economy.
Meanwhile, Vodafone Idea also believes that there is no need for only SMS and voice plans in today's era. Because, if such plans are offered to users, they will discourage users from using data. And this would not be in line with the government's vision of creating a Digital India. Moreover, they feel that their current plans are designed according to the needs of the users. So there is no need to change them.
Airtel shares the same view as the other two telecom operators. According to them, adding data to every plan is necessary to digitally connect every user in India. And taking away data benefits will not only deprive users of the benefits of digital empowerment but also set India back from its dream of Digital India. So their plans are quite in tune with the current times.
