No need to restrict promotional offers by telecom firms: Trai

NEW DELHI: Ending the controversy sparked by Reliance Jio’s free offers, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Friday said there was no need to place restrictions on the number of promotional offers from telecom firms as long as they were transparent, non-predatory and nondiscriminatory.

“The authority is of the view that no restrictions need to be imposed on the number of promotional offers that can be simultaneously launched and time lag between same or similar promotional offers in a licensed service area. Restrictions may not be in the interest of consumers apart from possibly hindering competition,” Trai said in the Telecommunication Tariff (sixty-third amendment) Order, 2018, made public on Friday.

“There is no further need to alter the current minimal definition of the promotional offer,” Trai said, adding that there is also no need to further restrict the time period of promotional offers from the current 90 days.

Trai’s new rules also include a penalty clause in case an operator’s tariffs are found to be predatory. The regulator may examine the tariffs of a significant market player, which is an operator holding a share of at least 30% of total activity in a relevant market, to determine the existence of predatory pricing. If the relevant tariff is found predatory, an operator will be liable to pay a penalty of up to ₹50 lakh per tariff plan per licensed service area, Trai said. There are 23 licensed service areas or telecom circles in the country.

Idea Cellular and Bharti Airtel had moved TDSAT against Trai and Reliance Jio on the extension of free services by the latter, more than a year ago.