High Court issues notices to telecom companies for extra SMS charges

You no longer need to pay extra charges for sending SMSes during festivals and special occasions. According to a recent report from the Times of India, the Madras High Court has sent a petition asking companies and the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), to ban hike in the SMS charges during special days. Arunachalam , who filed the petition against telcos, said that mobile operators offered attractive packages while enrolling customers, including 200 Free SMS for Rs one a day, 50 paise per SMS, but still maintained special SMS tariffs on important festivals like Pongal, Christmas, New year, Valentine’s day, Independence day, Diwali, and on special occasions such as New year’s eve. This forces users to restrict SMS on these important days , when they are likely to use the SMS services more. Notices have been issued to the Trai chairperson and Zonal/Regional Managers of 10 companies– Bharti Airtel ltd, Aircel Ltd, Vodafone, Reliance, Idea Cellular, Unitech, Tata Docomo, MTS mobile, BSNL mobile and Videocon.