Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has issued an offer to make Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) messages free for all cellular clients withinside the country. USSD messages are utilized by many operators and banking services, frequently on feature phones that don’t have access to the internet.
The suggestion seeks to convey the price of USSD messages from a maximum of 50 paise right all the way down to zero. The regulator referred to low name and SMS costs as a cause for presenting the elimination of costs for cell clients. In a assertion on November 24, noticed through TelecomTalk, TRAI stated that the suggestion to make USSD messages free for all customers is based on tips of a high-level Committee on Deepening of Digital Payments (CDDP) constituted through the Reserve Bank of India to inspire virtual payments withinside the country.
USSD messages also are utilized by telecom operators to allow characteristic phone customers to test their stability and allow services with out access to the Internet. TRAI stated it analysed the problem on request from the Department of Financial Services (DFS) to the Department of Telecom (DoT) and the regulatory frame believes that rationalisation of USSD costs is important to guard the pastimes of USSD customers and to sell virtual economic inclusion.
The Telecommunication Tariff (61st Amendment) Order, 2016 had formerly decreased the USSD-primarily based totally tariff ceiling from Rs. 1.50 to the present 50 paise according to consultation.
“The Authority proposes to revise the framework for USSD based cell banking and payment services through prescribing a ‘Nil’ charge according to USSD session for mobile banking and payment service, even as keeping the remaining items of USSD unchanged,” TRAI stated.
The draft Amendment Order has been posted on TRAI’s website, and the regulatory authority has invited stakeholders to ship in written remarks before December 8, according to TRAI.
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