Phone tariff plans must be easy on mind and on pocket

New Delhi: A cell phone was never as important as today, in these times of Covid-19 pandemic. As the virus continues to wreak havoc and keep us away from our friends

New Delhi: A cell phone was never as important as today, in these times of Covid-19 pandemic. As the virus continues to wreak havoc and keep us away from our friends and relatives, we find solace in virtual meetings. We use the mobile phone to connect with our offices, for social networking, for ordering daily needs and making our payments .

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We also use the cell phone to talk to our doctors, keep in touch with those quarantined and those who are afflicted by the virus and are hospitalised. We keep track of Covid cases around us , we get our daily dose of news and entertainment, well, today the cell phone is central to our existence, our survival, more than ever before. . And this makes it imperative that we choose service plans that are best suited to our needs and give us best value for money.

In other words, in these times of economic hardships, consumers have to make an informed choice and buy tariff plans that are cost-effective. But that’s easier said than done, given the complexity of the telecom tariffs today and the opacity surrounding them.

Today, let alone compare the offers of different service providers, consumers find it difficult to even compare the various plans of the same service provider and buy what’s in their best interest. The innumerable combinations and permutations, time-bound offers, discounting, bundling, packaging, , add-ons, promotional offers, Special Tariff Vouchers, Combo Vouchers, well, who can make sense of all this and make an informed choice?

It’s for this reason that consumers often experience a ‘bill shock’- an unexpected credit depletion in case of pre-paid consumers or an unanticipated high bill in case of post-paid subscribers. There are also many consumers who have chosen a wrong plan and are paying far more than what they ought to, given their usage pattern-again because of lack of clarity in the tariff plans offered.

This is not peculiar to India and is a worldwide phonemenon and it’s for this reason that regulators around the world have enforced or in the process of enforcing full transparency in telecom tariffs, so as to protect the interests of consumers. Given the complexities of the present-day tariffs, many of them have also introduced tariff calculators to break down the complicated tariffs into a format and language that is easy to understand. The calculator may be provided by the service provider or the regulator . In UK, for example, the Office of Communication (Ofcom) accredits agencies that provide price comparison services, to ensure the integrity of the information flow.

India too needs to enforce complete transparency, full disclosure and fair play in the way telecom tariffs are structured and sold. A common format for tariffs and a tariff calculator to help consumers compare prices of different service providers and choose the best option, is also a must. And this must be available in English as well as local languages and on mobile apps too.

Similarly, there is need to ensure that all terms and conditions are fair to consumers and are fully disclosed along with offers and not somewhere else or in fine print. In fact, the imperative need arises from the fact that in India 92-95 per cent of consumers buy pre-paid plans (they are far more complex) and many of them come from economically weaker sections of the society with probably just elementary education.

Last year, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India took cognizance of the vulnerability of telecom consumers vis-à-vis the changing landscape of telecom tariffs and proposed several measures, including a tariff calculator. Last Wednesday, the regulator held an online Open House on the topic and from media reports, the industry has not responded very positively to all the proposals.

Telecom companies have a strong lobby and unless consumers write in large numbers to the regulator, demanding full enforcement of their proposal, consumers may well lose the game.