SC ruling a boost for lifetime validity users

Mobile users who have signed up for lifetime validity offers provided by telecom operators will be the biggest beneficiaries of the recent Supreme Court ruling which says that the telecom regulator can haul up service providers for discontinuing tariff schemes.

The ruling implies that the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) can ensure that its recent order on the issue is adhered to by operators.

"Hike in tariff is prohibited for any tariff item specified in the lifetime tariff plans during the entire lifelong validity period. In case of tariff plans other than plans with lifetime validity which have a component of upfront payment, service providers are not allowed to hike tariffs during the promised validity period of such plans," the regulator had said.

Trai issued this order even as operators pointed out that under existing laws they were only required to ensure that tariffs for lifetime validity plans remain unchanged for six months from the time a subscriber buys such a plan.

When contacted, operators said they did not want to comment on a Supreme Court ruling. Some operators, however, shared the view that the regulator, after having prescribed forbearance for cellular tariffs, must not seek to withdraw this flexibility or indulge in micromanagement.

Operators also added that if the regulator were to intervene in these issues, it would rob them of the capacity to constantly tailor tariffs to attract new customers based on market variables.