The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Monday asked mobile operators to lower the processing fee on pre-paid top-up vouchers less than Rs 30.
Under the new regulation the operators will charge a maximum of 10 per cent of the voucher value for up to Rs 30 and Rs 3 for top-up vouchers more than that.
This means that a user who buys a Rs 10 voucher can now make calls worth Rs 9 with Rs 1 going as processing fee. Currently, operators charge Rs 2 as processing fee for all recharge cards below Rs 20. It was seen that the impact of the fixed processing fee was more on top-up vouchers of lower denominations than higher denominations.
‘No basis’
“It has been noted that the present manner of charging processing fee leads to a regressive burden on lower denomination vouchers. The Authority feels that various elements of cost associated with the provision of top-up vouchers need not necessarily be recovered by way of processing fee,” TRAI said while issuing the new regulation.
The regulator said that because operators are free to fix tariffs, they can recover costs through suitable plans. “Thus, there is no basis for the demand for a higher processing fee on top-up vouchers on the ground of increase in cost,” it said.
Recharge cards of more than Rs 30 remain unaffected as the TRAI has fixed a ceiling of Rs 3 for the processing fee. Under current norms, operators charge Rs 3 for all coupons over Rs 20.
In order to ensure that operators do not withdraw low-value recharge vouchers, the TRAI has made it mandatory for operators to offer top-up vouchers of Rs 10.
No ceiling on premium SMSes
In a separate regulation, the TRAI has removed the earlier prescribed ceiling on premium SMSes and calls, which are essentially used for voting in TV shows, participating in a contest, etc. The TRAI had asked telecom operators not to charge beyond four times of the applicable local call or SMS charges.
The TRAI has decided to remove this ceiling and allow operators to fix tariffs for such services after representations were made by telecom companies that it was difficult to implement the ceiling. As a large variety of tariff plans are offered by operators, broadcasters found it difficult to declare a single rate on their programmes.