Desk. TRAI has taken a big decision by making the 13th amendment in the Telecom Consumer Protection Rules. Now telecom operators Airtel, Jio, Vodafone Idea and BSNL will have to launch cheap monthly plans without data for the users. Earlier also, on the orders of TRAI, telecom operators have introduced voice and SMS only plans, which come with validity of 84 days and 365 days.

TRAI has approved the 13th amendment to TCPR 2026, directing telecom operators to introduce special tariff vouchers (STVs) for voice and SMS only without data. The draft of this new rule was published by the telecom regulator on its website on 7 April 2026. This plan will be launched especially for those users whose income is very low. Telecom service has become an essential medium for the people, due to which the telecom regulator has ordered the telecom operators to bring cheap monthly plans.

In its new rule, the telecom regulator has ordered the telecom operators that every telecom operators will have to launch special tariff vouchers of validity of 30 days or less, in which only voice and SMS will be offered.

Apart from this, telecom companies have also been ordered to provide an option to their recharge customers in which they can renew their recharge on a fixed date every month. With this, customers will not have to worry about recharging on different dates.

Additionally, customers will also have to be provided with at least one voice and SMS only plan with a validity of more than 30 days. This clearly means that now customers will have the option to recharge with voice and SMS only plans even with long validity. The telecom regulator has also said that the prices of these plans should be reduced appropriately so that these plans are cheaper than the data plans.

Apart from this, TRAI has made the rules against fake commercial calls more stringent. Under the new rule, AI based methods have been included to identify suspected spam. Also, new rules have been implemented for automated calls. According to the amended rules, telecom operators will have to share information about numbers associated with suspected spam activity. Not only this, permission for further investigation has been given in case of doubt on many numbers to activity.