New Delhi: Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) has taken a new step in the interest of telecom users. TRAI has prepared the draft of Telecom Consumer Protection Regulation (Thirteenth Amendment) 2026. According to this proposal, all telecom companies will have to launch cheap voice and SMS only plans. Its purpose is to provide relief to crores of users who mainly make calls and messages and do not use much data.
Last year, in December 2024, TRAI had ordered telecom companies to launch voice and SMS only plans. After this, Airtel, Jio, Vi and BSNL started some such plans, but these plans were mostly of long validity (84 days or one year) and were only Rs 100-200 cheaper than the data plans.
Many companies also launched data plans in the market in comparison to these plans, due to which users could not get the real benefit. Most people kept buying expensive data plans. TRAI now wants to solve this problem.
In the new draft, TRAI has clearly said that wherever companies offer Special Tariff Voucher (STV) with voice, SMS and data, they will also have to launch a voice and SMS only plan of the same validity period. This new plan should be quite cheap.
That is, appropriate discount should be given in the price according to the removal of data. This will benefit feature phone users and those who use mobile only for calls and messages. TRAI believes that users should not be forced to buy unwanted data bundles.
TRAI said that the new rule will increase transparency in recharge plans and users will get the right option. Suggestions and comments have been sought on this draft from telecom companies, stakeholders and general public till 28 April 2026.
After this proposal is implemented, it will become mandatory for Airtel, Jio, Vi and BSNL to provide cheap voice-SMS only option with all validity plans. With this, millions of users will be able to get cheap services without data. This step of TRAI is being considered an important effort towards protecting consumer interests in the telecom sector.
