NEW DELHI, Sept. 22
India’s telecom regulator has directed mobile operators to offer a wider range of recharge plans that provide only voice calling and SMS services, giving consumers who do not need mobile data more options across different validity periods.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued the Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026 on Monday. Under the revised rules, operators will have to provide Special Tariff Vouchers, or STVs, exclusively for voice and SMS services, with appropriate reductions in tariffs compared with plans that also bundle mobile data.
The change is aimed particularly at consumers who use mobile phones primarily for calls and text messages and have little or no requirement for data. TRAI said the availability of such plans had become limited, leaving some customers paying for bundled services they may not need.
Under the new framework, telecom service providers must offer voice and SMS-only STVs across different validity periods. This includes plans valid for 30 days as well as those lasting less than 30 days. Operators offering regular voice, SMS and data plans will have to provide corresponding voice-and-SMS options.
The regulator has also addressed a long-standing issue surrounding monthly recharge validity.
Operators will have to provide an option that renews on the same date each month. Where that date does not exist in a particular month, the recharge will renew on the final day of that month. This should make monthly plans easier for consumers to understand and reduce variations caused by different month lengths.
Telecom companies must also offer at least one longer-validity STV restricted to voice and SMS services, comparable with the longer-duration options available with conventional plans combining calls, messages and data.
The changes expand on TRAI’s earlier intervention in the prepaid mobile market.
Under the Telecom Consumer Protection (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2024, the regulator had already required operators to provide Special Tariff Vouchers exclusively for voice and SMS. The measure was intended to give consumers greater freedom to choose services according to their actual usage rather than requiring them to purchase data as part of a bundled recharge.
TRAI subsequently found, however, that the number of voice and SMS-only options available to customers remained limited, particularly among plans with shorter validity periods.
That created a problem for customers who did not want to commit to longer-duration plans or pay for mobile data simply to maintain calling and messaging services.
The issue can be particularly relevant for lower-income customers and people who use basic mobile phones. While India’s consumption of mobile data has expanded rapidly, not every subscriber requires a large data allowance. Some consumers maintain mobile connections principally for calls, SMS messages or essential communication.
TRAI said limited availability of voice and SMS-only vouchers could therefore restrict affordable choices for such users.
The regulator’s intervention does not mean telecom companies must stop offering bundled plans. Voice, SMS and data packages will continue to be available. Instead, operators will have to provide alternatives for subscribers who do not want the data component.
The distinction is important because bundled plans have increasingly become the standard offering in India’s prepaid telecom market. For frequent internet users, such packages can provide a convenient combination of services. For subscribers who consume little or no mobile data, however, the same structure can mean paying for a service they rarely use.
The revised regulations seek to increase choice rather than prescribe a single type of tariff.
TRAI finalised the changes after a public consultation that drew 1,132 responses from stakeholders. The process also included an open-house discussion on the proposed amendments. The regulator said the final framework was prepared after considering those submissions along with its own analysis.
The amendment also reflects a broader regulatory challenge created by the evolution of India’s mobile market. Telecom tariffs that once revolved largely around the cost of calls and text messages have increasingly shifted towards data allowances as smartphones and mobile internet usage expanded.
Voice calls have meanwhile become routinely bundled with data packages, leaving relatively few plans designed around customers whose primary requirement remains conventional calling.
The latest regulations require operators to maintain both types of offerings.
The immediate effect for consumers should be a broader selection of recharge options based on how long they need service and whether they actually require mobile data. The eventual savings will depend on the tariffs individual telecom operators introduce under the revised framework.
TRAI has not prescribed a single nationwide price for the voice and SMS-only vouchers. Instead, operators are required to provide appropriate tariff reductions when data is excluded from the package.
That leaves telecom companies with flexibility over pricing while establishing a regulatory requirement that consumers be given meaningful alternatives.
For subscribers, particularly those who use their phones mainly for calls and messages, the change is relatively straightforward: maintaining a mobile connection should no longer require choosing from a narrow range of data-heavy packages when the data itself is unnecessary.
