TRAI blocks Airtel, Vodafone premium plans

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) over the weekend has asked the Bharti Airtel Ltd's Platinum and Vodafone Idea Ltd's RedX to withdraw its premium plans that offered faster data speeds and priority services to postpaid customers, stating such schemes violate net neutrality norms and could impact the quality of services for users who do not subscribe to these plans.

TRAI have stated they want to reassess the claims of priority network usage that these plans offer.

A TRAI official told a daily, "It is in violation of quality of service norms. It shortchanges the existing customers and it is also not clear what the new customers are being offered as the parameters are not quantifiable".

Bharti Airtel on July 6 had announced faster 4G data speeds for all its platinum postpaid users paying a minimum of ₹499 and plans that goes upto 1500. On the other hand, Vodafone had launched the RedX premium postpaid plan in November last year priced at Rs 999 per month with a host of add-ons and value adds for subscribers. On the other hand, Vodafone Idea launched its RedX plan November last year for postpaid customers at a price of 999, offering up to 50% faster speeds and add-on services. The plan was hiked by 100 in May this year.