The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued a ‘show-cause’ notice to Vodafone Idea saying that the company’s controversial priority plan is misleading. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued a ‘show-cause’ notice to Vodafone Idea saying that the company’s priority plan is misleading. In an official notice, TRAI asked Vodafone Idea to ‘show cause’ by 31st August 2020. That’s the reason necessary action will not be taken against it for violating the regulatory framework by its RedX tariff plan.
Meanwhile, one of the sources said that Bharti Airtel hasn’t been issued any sort of show-cause notice from TRAI. Airtel has accepted the framework of TRAI and also altered its platinum offering voluntarily. As a result, TRAI is not seeking to continue its further investigation over this issue. The show-cause notice sent to VIL by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India [TRAI] said that the ‘claim of VIL for providing priority 4G network with faster data speeds is not in compliance with the extant regulatory framework.’
TRAI also said in the show-cause notice that the RedX tariff plan lacks transparency. Moreover, it is misleading and isn’t in compliance with regulatory principles of tariff assessment comprised under Telecom Tariff Order, 1999, as revised every so often. The notice further said that the RedX tariff plan violates particular clauses of the Telecom Tariff Order that are related to the protection of consumer interests.
The notice further said that VIL’s RedX tariff plan breaches the license agreement terms. Moreover, it isn’t constant with the prescribed technical specifications. During the last few weeks, TRAI had been inquiring about the priority plan RedX of Vodafone Idea, and the Platinum plan of Bharti Airtel to check whether the network preference to particular customers leads to the degeneration of services for the remaining non-premium subscribers or breaches any guidelines.
During TRAI’s investigation, the regulator asked questions to both the two telecom operators. TRAI asked them to explain their place on the controversial issue and give the necessary data to support their respective claims. Vodafone Idea responded to the questions raised by the telecom regulator regarding its priority plan. The telecom operator argued that launching a new tariff plan doesn’t seem to be a new service. The company also opposed the contention of TRAI saying that the RedX priority plan that offers higher speeds should have been informed separately. As a result, various aspects could have been inspected before the official launch of such a service.
Vodafone Idea further justified its pay-more-for-priority-experience plan launched to its subscribers. The company said that the telecom operators confronted a double blow of having to make consistent investments in an epoch of call and data charges declining below cost because of the immense competition among different operators. It’s true that after the entry of Reliance Jio into the market, the prominence of the existing telecom operators has been diminished. Stay tuned to TelecomWire to get the latest updates about the upcoming plans of various telecom service providers in the nation.