Nowadays almost everyone has a smartphone, but expensive recharge plans have become a problem for many people. In response to this, TRAI has come up with a new plan to provide cheaper options to customers. In the past, users often had to pay more even for plans that didn’t include data, but that’s about to change. Let’s take a look at TRAI’s new proposal.
**TRAI’s new plan**
Currently, plans that offer calls and SMS have limited validity. Under the proposed new rule, companies that offer data plans with validity of 7, 28, 56 and 84 days will also have to launch ‘voice-only’ and ‘SMS-only’ plans with the same validity period. This will allow users to choose a plan as per their specific needs and not have to pay extra for data they do not need.
**Cheap plans without data**
According to media reports, TRAI believes that users who do not need mobile data should have the option to choose plans with only calling and SMS. Currently, users are often forced to purchase plans that include data they don’t actually need. To solve this problem, TRAI has proposed that telecom companies offer ‘voice-only’ and ‘SMS-only’ plans with the same validity as their data-only plans.
**Who will benefit?**
This new plan will mainly benefit those users who opt for non-data plans or those who use feature phones. Additionally, it will also be beneficial for those users who want to keep a secondary SIM card active. As a result, if TRAI’s new plan is implemented, users opting for a data-free plan will be greatly benefited.
**How cheap will the plans be?**
According to TRAI, prices of plans without data can be reduced by more than 50 percent. It is worth noting that in the current plans the data portion constitutes a major part of the price. Now, since these will not involve data, the cost will be much lower than before.
