Mumbai: Telcos get Rs 0.02 (2 paisa) from the government for sending SMS alerts/messages during disasters and non-disasters. However, the messages must still be sent free of charge during disasters notified under the Disaster Management Act, 2005.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) issued an order on Tuesday amending the Tariff rules telecom in connection with sending SMS alerts, messages and cell broadcasts in connection with a disaster.
Previously, rates were not prescribed and payment to telcos was made on a case-by-case basis. Now a uniform rate has been prescribed to remove all ambiguity.
“In view of the importance of alerts/messages sent under the guidelines of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (53 of 2005), the Authority has decided that no charge will be made for such SMS/Cell Broadcast – Alerts/messages sent during disasters or prior to the notification of a disaster or after the expiration of the disaster,” TRAI said in the order.
In addition, it said operators can broadcast free messages to all subscribers via cell broadcast during disaster and non-disaster period.
“The telcos owe their infrastructure usage to the OTTs and should indeed be grateful to them. Otherwise, their networks would have remained inactive all the time,” BIF said in a letter to Department of Telecommunications (DoT) Secretary K Rajaraman.
The order is effective today. The rate is charged by the carrier canceling the SMS/alerts sender. Trai will review these rates after 2 years.
In November 2021, the telecom regulator released a consultation document to discuss tariff-related issues for SMS and cell broadcast alerts sent over common warning protocol (CAP) platform during disasters and non-disasters.
During the consultation process Airtel said that the cost of providing SMS alerts/messages should be compensated. “It is not an economically sensible and viable option to extend the scope of free SMS alerts/messages,” it had said. It also suggested the rate of Rs 0.02.
Trust Jio also said it disagreed with making all messages through the CAP platform free, but did not propose a specific rate.
TRAI explained the rationale behind the consultation and said there are occasions when the government wants to send alert messages to the public to warn of a potential disaster or occasions when the public needs to be notified of special events such as holding emergency/ vaccination/medical camps/specific law and order related situations etc.
Until now, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) allowed free SMS & Cell broadcast for a certain period of time and for events where a specific request for free messages comes from specific node authorities.
At a time when customer churn is a threat to all three telcos, services like these help retain customers. Attrition has almost doubled over the past two years, leading to Vodafone Idea (Vi), Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio, among others, to see sharp increases in SG&A (Sales, General and Administrative) costs in the September quarter in their pursuit to retain customers and snatch new ones from rivals.