TRAI says won’t charge users for having multiple SIMs

Taking note of recent media reports, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Friday refuted that the regulator planned to charge users holding multiple SIMs, or mobile connections.

“…some media houses (print, electronic, and social media) have reported that TRAI has proposed introducing fees for mobile and landline numbers with an aim to ensure the efficient allocation and use of these ‘finite resources’. The speculation that TRAI intends to impose charges on customers for holding multiple SIMs/ numbering resources is unequivocally false,” the telecom regulator said in an official statement.

The regulator termed the claims in media reports as “unfounded” and said they serve only to “mislead the public”.

The sector watchdog floated a consultation paper on ‘Revision of National Numbering Plan’ on June 6, 2024, seeking industry views on whether financial disincentives must be imposed on telecom operators if allocated telecommunications identifier (TI) resources remained unused beyond the timeframe.

TIs refer to the series of digits, characters, and symbols, or their combination, used to uniquely identify a mobile or landline user. The regulator believes that with 5G networks, TIs will have a pivotal role in ensuring efficient telecommunications and network management.

TRAI’s discussion paper had invited stakeholders to comment on the need for a charging mechanism and possible charges for existing/newly allocated TI resources to ensure efficient usage.

One the reasons for floating the paper was that telcos often capitalise on market demand by offering highly coveted numbers at premium prices and resort to auctions to maximise revenues from such allocations. Further, telcos levy charges on subscribers for acquiring these preferred numbers.

Telecom carriers, in response, cautioned that any move to start collecting fees on sale of numbers would result in additional costs being passed on to subscribers.

In its latest statement, TRAI said it has consistently advocated minimum regulatory intervention promoting forbearance and the self-regulation of market forces. “We unequivocally repudiate and emphatically condemn any spurious conjectures that perpetuate the circulation of such misleading information concerning the consultation paper at hand,” it said.

Separately, the Department of Telecommunications on X (formerly Twitter), tweeted that the speculation that TRAI plans to charge customers for having multiple SIMs or numbering resources is “completely false”.

“These claims are baseless and aim to mislead the public,” the telecom department said in the tweet.

DoT is presently the custodian of TI resources in India and oversees its allocation for both landline and mobile network in-line with the International Telecommunication Union’s (ITU) global standards.