TDSAT dismisses telcos plea against TRAI's VAS mandate

The telecom tribunal, TDSAT knocks off telcos challenge against TRAI's VAS guidelines issued in July 2012 and has directed them to implement TRAI's recommendation on VAS within three months. TRAI had mandated operators to take explicit consent via SMS or email or FAX or in writing from customers before activating value added services.

With a view to protect the interest of the customers, TRAI directed operators to inform customers through SMS the due date for renewal of any subscribed value added service, the renewal charges and a toll free telephone number for unsubscribing from the service, three days before the date of renewal. TRAI had directed telcos to seek for subscriber’s explicit consent for renewal through SMS.

Operators had filed a petition against TRAI on VAS guidelines in September as it posed a challenge for VAS players and telcos, as customers had to go through multiple steps to activate VAS.