TRAI mandates voice-and-SMS-only recharge vouchers through the Thirteenth Amendment to the telecom consumers protection regulations

22 September 2026

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India notified the Telecom Consumers Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026 (6 of 2026) on 21 September 2026 and released it on 22 September 2026.
The amendment substitutes a proviso in regulation 4 of the Telecom Consumers Protection Regulations, 2012.
Access service providers must offer Special Tariff Vouchers carrying an appropriate tariff reduction exclusively for voice and SMS, across different validity periods.
For every voucher of 30 days or less offered for voice, SMS and data, a corresponding voice-and-SMS-only voucher must be offered.
Operators must also provide a validity renewable on the same date every month, and on the last day of the month where that date does not exist.
At least one voice-and-SMS-only voucher must carry a validity longer than those two, matching the longer-validity vouchers offered for voice, SMS and data.
The regulations come into force thirty days after their publication in the Official Gazette.
TRAI observed that voice-and-SMS-only options had become limited after the Twelfth Amendment of 2024, leaving low-income consumers with limited affordable choices; the final rules followed 1,132 stakeholder responses and an open house discussion.