TRAI: Telcos should consider 'Per second billing' plans

[jayanthi mandhalapu]

In a recent development, TRAI, the Indian Telecom regulator has announced its plans to renovate the mobile bills of country's 450 million cellphone users, but the plan could decrease the telcos' revenue by upto 15%.

According to sources, the regulator has asked various mobile operators to charge their users on a per-second basis so that they can enjoy the benefit of paying only for their usage. However, TRAI has not announced any time frame to adopt the per-second-billing plan.

For the initiative, TRAI will first issue a consultation paper on the topic and will issue any directive only after getting the industry's view on the subject. Meanwhile, mobile phone companies have not commented on the development, while the shares of these telcos took a severe beating in a falling market on Monday after the news.

At present, TATA DOCOMO has offered the 'per second' bill plan to its new customers.

In a latest data report, there are more than 2,500 tariff plans across the country and various telcos offer plans that may not be as attractive as promised.