TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) on Monday blocked Bharti Airtel’s Platinum and Vodafone Idea’s RedX premium plans that offer faster data speeds and priority services to customers. TRAI questioned whether the network preference came at the cost of deterioration of services for other subscribers.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has asked the two operators to withhold the specific plan for the interim period.
The TRAI has written to the two operators -- Airtel and Vodafone Idea -- and questioned them about their individual plans that promised faster speeds to certain priority users.
The regulator has asked if priority to high-paying customers in those specific plans came at the cost of service deterioration for other subscribers.
The Bharti Airtel had announced last Monday that it would give preference to platinum mobile customers, who pay Rs 499 and above per month for post -paid connection, on its 4G network.
The platinum customers will get better 4G speed on the Airtel network compared to other customers.
The TRAI has given Airtel seven days to respond to its questions, a person privy to the development said.
In case of Vodafone Idea, the company had launched a postpaid plan, REDX, promising up to 50 per cent faster data speeds, besides other benefits and privileges.
When contacted, an Airtel spokesperson said: "We are passionate about delivering the best network and service experience to all our customers."
"This is why we have a relentless obsession to eliminate faults, and have been consistently recognised by international agencies as the best network in terms of speed, latency and video experience.
The company source said that the RedX plan was filed with TRAI in November and further modifications to the plan were, once again, duly filed in May.
The plan has been in the market for last eight months and customers are already on-boarded.
The VIL source said the company was of the view that there was no violation of tariff regulation on this plan.
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