India’s telecom regulator has mandated the availability of more affordable voice call and text message plans, aiming to provide greater choice for consumers who do not need data, amidst industry concerns over limited options.
India’s telecom regulator has moved to make it easier for people to buy mobile plans that include only voice calls and text messages, as it seeks to widen choice for users who do not need data.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has issued the Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulation, 2026, requiring operators to offer recharge options without mobile data. According to the regulator, such plans have been too scarce, especially in shorter validity periods, leaving many customers with bundled tariffs they do not fully use.
Under the new framework, companies must provide a voice-and-SMS-only option for customers seeking recharges valid for 30 days or less. They must also offer at least one longer-duration plan of more than 30 days that excludes data. The regulator has also pushed operators to make these plans cheaper than comparable bundled packs, so non-data users are not paying for services they do not want.
The move is aimed particularly at older customers and lower-income users, as well as anyone who mainly uses a handset for calls and messages. Industry reports said the regulator was responding to complaints that operators had technically complied with earlier rules but had limited such plans to a small number of long-duration packs, often leaving 28-day or monthly users with few practical options.
Financial Express reported that the regulator wants these plans to be made more visible on recharge platforms, while LiveMint said the draft rules are intended to stop consumers being pushed into data-heavy packs by default. Communications Today added that the revision marks a course correction from the regulator’s December 2024 approach, after a review found that operators had offered only a narrow range of voice-only plans.
TRAI said it received 1,132 responses to the draft before finalising the rules, suggesting substantial public interest in lower-cost, more flexible mobile tariffs for non-data users.
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