Now before recharging your mobile, it will be easy to decide which services you actually need. If your phone is mainly used for calls and SMS and mobile data is not required, then soon you may get a different and cheaper recharge option for it. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued Telecom Consumer Protection (13th Amendment) Regulations, 2026.
Under the new rules, telecom companies will have to provide Voice and SMS-only Special Tariff Voucher (STV). The price of these plans will also have to be kept appropriately lower than the data packs. This step of TRAI is especially important for those customers who only need calling and SMS. In the new rules, arrangements have been made to provide options for short term and monthly recharge customers also.
Now separate recharge will be available only for call-SMS
According to the new rules of TRAI, telecom companies will have to provide separate special tariff vouchers for voice and SMS. This means that customers who do not need mobile data will not be forced to buy expensive packs including data. It will also be necessary to reduce the price of these Voice-SMS-only plans appropriately.
Special rules on plans with validity of 30 days or less
Keeping in mind the duration of STVs with Voice/SMS and Data validity of 30 days or less, companies will have to provide Voice-SMS-only options. Its objective is to provide cheap short term recharge to such customers who do not want to take a long validity plan.
Renewal will happen on the same date every month
TRAI has also made arrangements for monthly recharge customers. Companies will have to provide such an option in which the plan is renewed on the same date every month. If that date is not present in the calendar for any month, renewal will be done on the last date of that month.
Option in STV for more than 30 days also
Not only for short term plans, but also for Special Tariff Vouchers with validity more than 30 days, at least one Voice-SMS-only option will have to be provided. With this, customers who want recharge with long validity will also be able to get the option without data.
TRAI told why the change was necessary
According to TRAI, there were a limited number of Voice-SMS-only plans available in the current market and these mostly included options with longer validity. In such a situation, low income customers had limited options to choose cheap recharge of short duration. With the new rules, customers will be able to choose the plan according to their needs and budget.
The draft came in April
Before this change, TRAI had released the draft of the proposed rules in April 2026 and had sought suggestions from concerned parties including telecom companies. TRAI received a total of 1,132 suggestions and responses during this process. After this, Open House Discussion was also organized on this issue on 15 June 2026. Now after these discussions new rules have been issued.
