Vodafone Idea shares up 3%, Bharti Airtel falls: What TRAI's new rules say

Shares of Vodafone Idea Ltd gained over 3 per cent in Tuesday's trade while those of Bharti Airtel Ltd were trading half-a-per cent lower after TRAI released Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulations, 2026. The amendment addressed the shortage of affordable, short-duration Voice-and-SMS-only vouchers, suggesting providers must offer standalone voice and SMS plans for 30 days or less. Besides, plan renewals must happen on the same date each month.

"The authority is of the view that such a tariff framework would sufficiently address consumer requirements. This amended regulation will provide low-income consumers with more options, allowing them to recharge according to their requirements and financial capacity. Overall, it will improve choices for consumers preferring not to use STVs bundled with data," TRAI said.

Following the development, Vodafone Idea shares were trading 3.46 per cent higher at Rs 14.32 apiece. Bharti Airtel Ltd was down 0.69 per cent at Rs 1,817.40.

The salient feature of the amendment is to mandate STVs (Special Tariff Vouchers) with an appropriate reduction in tariff, exclusively for voice and SMS, with validities corresponding to each validity period of 30 days and less than 30 days for STVs being offered for voice, SMS and data. The validity of such STVs shall be renewable on the same date of every month. If the date of renewal is not available in a particular month, the renewal date shall be the last date of that month.

The amendment also mandates at least one STV with validity exceeding the above-mentioned 30-day and less-than-30-day periods, corresponding to the validity periods of STVs being offered for voice, SMS and data. 
 
TRAI said since the implementation of TCPR (Twelfth Amendment), 2024, the authority observed the limitation in the availability of Voice- and SMS-only STVs being offered by telecom service providers, where only a limited number of such STVs, concentrated on longer validities were being offered and making low-income consumers deprived of affordable shorter duration choices.

In order to address this concern, the draft TCPR (Thirteenth Amendment) consultation was issued. In response to the draft Amendment, a total of 1132 responses were received from stakeholders. Based on the responses received from the stakeholders and on its own analysis, TRAI has finalised the Telecom Consumer Protection (Thirteenth Amendment) Regulation, 2026.