Vodafone Idea priority plan: TRAI drops probe after telco tweaks offer

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Saturday decided to drop proceedings against Vodafone Idea Ltd (VIL) in priority plan matter after the telecom operator modified its offering. VIL has withdrawn the contentious claims on faster speed for premium customers. With this, the controversy surrounding the priority plan issue now ceases to exist.

Last month, the regulator had slapped a show-cause notice on VIL over its priority mobile plan, saying the tariff offer lacked transparency and was "misleading" and not in compliance with the regulatory framework.

Faced with regulatory heat, VIL recently dropped the faster data speed claims which formed a prominent part of its pay-more-for-priority-treatment offering and filed a revised plan with Trai.

The regulator has now informed VIL that "the authority has decided not to proceed with the investigation/ further inquiry".

Trai letter, seen by PTI, noted that the operator has informed that the earlier RedX plan has been discontinued and that a new tariff plan of RedX, without the claim of priority 4G network feature with faster speed, has been filed.

"It has been further stated that VIL believes the same would address the concerns of the authority and based on the same, VIL requested the authority to grant closure to the pending enquiry," the regulator said.

(With PTI inputs)

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