Telecom Lead India: Under pressure from mobile operators, Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has allowed telecos to offer Combo Vouchers.
This will be the fourth category of vouchers from Indian mobile operators.
Under the Telecom Consumer Protection Regulation, 2012 (TCPR), only three categories of vouchers – Plan Vouchers, Top-ups and STVs were allowed.
During the first quarter result, Airtel said TRAI guidelines around processing fees restricted the sales of combo packs which offered bundled service propositions to augment customer value. These regulations have restricted the operators from free market pricing prevalent hitherto. The net impact of these changes in this quarter was in the range of Rs 2,500 Rs 3,000 million.
TRAI on Monday said the fourth category of vouchers called Combo Vouchers will provide monetary value and tariff concessions through a single voucher.
TRAI said such vouchers will provide flexibility to the service providers to offer bundling of the products based on market segmentation. Use of Combo Vouchers is likely to afford subscriber convenience of purchasing additional monetary value as well as well as getting benefit of special tariffs through a single transaction.
Top-Up Vouchers will be exclusively available in denomination of Rs 10 and multiples thereof. The Combo Vouchers will be available in denomination other than Rs 10 and multiples thereof. The Combo Vouchers which are in physical form will bear a blue colour band whereas the Top-Up Vouchers will bear a green colour band.
The Combo Vouchers will mention the terms and conditions of offer so that consumers can make an informed choice. In addition, service providers will also mention the availability of standalone top up vouchers whenever combo vouchers are publicized.
