Per second billing now mandatory, says TRAI

TRAI has now mandated another rule for all mobile phone companies which will require them to provide ‘per second billing’ option to customers. It said that all network operators should have at least one tariff plan which will provide per second billing. Also, telcos could offer up to 25 different tariff plans to its customers. Further, TRAI now also allows telcos to charge up to four times the existing rates for its premium services. These services will include phone calls and text messages which are sent to participate in TV and radio programmes such as reality shows. "The authority does not intend to restrict the growth of services involving content nor to curb the revenue streams available for the service providers," Trai said.

'TRAI'ing hard!

Further, telcos will be allowed to change ISD tariffs for customers who have opted for lifetime prepaid cards while leading telcos have said that they already offer per second billing tariff plans to its customers. Telcos have been offering per second calling tariff to lure users. Recently, Idea was in the news for its per second tariff rise. Idea offers a Rs.3 voucher, which would shift the customer to 1.3 paisa per sec, instead of 1.2 paisa for Local and STD and 1.5 paisa per sec for fixed line. However, this isn’t unknown to the regulator who has accepted that after the scrutiny of tariff in the markets, it has observed that all service providers presently provide per second billing options to its customers for local and STD calls.

Earlier TRAI had also asked telcos to maintain transparency with their tariff plans and asked them to publish the tariff in newspapers. Talking about transparency, telcos have been asked to put a halt on the additional amount that it charges for SMSes during special occasions. Moreover, DoT also managed to get TRAI’s nod on free roaming.