The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has released the Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026, mandating telecom operators to offer more voice and SMS-only recharge options. According to reports from Business Standard, the regulations require operators to provide Special Tariff Vouchers (STVs) with appropriate tariff reductions exclusively for voice and SMS services. The regulations were released on September 21, 2026, following a consultation process in which Trai received 1,132 responses from stakeholders, along with an open house discussion on the proposed amendment. As per The Economic Times, the amendment seeks to address the limited availability of voice-and-SMS-only STVs, particularly shorter-duration options, leaving low-income consumers with fewer affordable choices. In an official statement, Trai said the Authority is of the view that such a tariff framework would sufficiently address consumer requirements, with the amended regulation providing low-income consumers with more options and allowing them to recharge according to their requirements and financial capacity.
The amendment requires telecom service providers to offer STVs with validity of 30 days and less than 30 days for voice, SMS, and data services, alongside corresponding voice-and-SMS options. Operators must provide STVs with validity that can renew on the same date every month, and when that date does not exist in a particular month, renewal will take place on the last date of that month. Additionally, operators will have to provide at least one voice-and-SMS-only STV with a longer validity period, similar to the longer-validity options offered for regular voice, SMS, and data plans. The mandated voice and SMS-only STVs must carry an appropriate and largely proportional reduction in tariff compared with bundled plans. As reported by The Economic Times, operators will also have to offer at least one voice-and-SMS-only STV with validity longer than the above options, corresponding to the validity period of the voice, SMS and data STVs being offered. According to ANI, the regulation requires operators to provide voice-and-SMS-only STVs with appropriate reduction in tariff for validity periods corresponding to each validity period of 30 days and less than 30 days for STVs currently offered for voice, SMS and data.
According to Business Standard, Trai observed that the availability of voice-and-SMS-only STVs had become limited after the Telecom Consumer Protection (Twelfth Amendment) Regulations, 2024. The regulator noted that operators were offering fewer shorter-duration options, which could leave low-income consumers with limited affordable choices. The new framework is intended to give consumers more flexibility to choose recharges based on their requirements and financial capacity, particularly those who do not need data bundled with their mobile plans. As per The Economic Times, the amended tariff framework would provide low-income consumers with more options and allow them to recharge according to their requirements and financial capacity. ANI reports that the regulation requires operators to provide voice-and-SMS-only STVs with appropriate reduction in tariff for validity periods corresponding to each validity period of 30 days and less than 30 days for STVs currently offered for voice, SMS and data. However, sector experts warn that the mandate could increase consumer choice but also dilute average revenue per user (ARPU), more so at the lower end of the subscriber base. As noted by Rohan Lobo, Partner & TMT Industry Leader at Deloitte South Asia, nearly 90% of connections are prepaid, so what matters commercially is not just the value of each recharge, but how regularly customers recharge. The net revenue effect will depend on whether improved recharge continuity can compensate for lower spend among customers who down-trade to cheaper voice-only plans.
Latest telecom subscriber numbers released by Trai show the overall wireless user base at 1.28 billion as of July end, growing at a monthly rate of 0.43 per cent. While wireless subscription in urban areas was at 743.65 million, rural was at a much lower 544.27 million. The urban growth rate was 0.57 per cent against 0.24 per cent in rural areas. The teledensity — the number of telephone connections for every 100 people living in a specific area — highlights the urban versus rural gap starkly. Overall wireless teledensity in India was 90.04 per cent at the end of July. Of that, urban wireless teledensity was at 143.86 per cent against 59.59 per cent in rural. As per Business Standard, the room for growth in mobile teledensity in rural areas and some pockets of urban India can be partly filled by affordable short-duration plans, which are expected to be rolled out soon. The affordable STVs are particularly important for the prepaid segment, which comprises around 90 per cent of the total subscriber base, as they could help retain low usage subscribers who may otherwise stop recharging.
According to Deloitte data, data consumption per subscriber rose about 20% year-on-year, while data revenue per user remained around ₹200 a month, as realization per GB over a year fell from ₹9.11 to ₹7.51 by March 2026. This indicates that significantly higher consumption has not translated proportionately into higher data monetisation. Vinish Bawa, leader of telecom practice at PwC India, noted that the mandate could lead to some ARPU dilution though not much, specially from low data users, elderly and users with second SIMs. The impact on overall revenues should be limited, as heavy smartphone users will continue buying data plans, but it could help telcos retain low usage subscribers who may otherwise stop recharging a secondary SIM. Bawa added that the mandate increases regulatory control over tariffs and their design, which is the bigger concern for operators. Despite India being considered among the cheapest in the world in terms of tariff, with its overall ARPU still languishing under ₹200 a month, the industry must balance higher ARPU goals with socioeconomic development needs.
