TRAI asks Airtel, Vodafone to withhold premium plans

TRAI has blocked Bharti Airtel’s Platinum and Vodafone Idea’s RedX premium plans which offer faster data speeds and priority services to customers.

While asking two companies to withhold the two schemes till further order, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India said such scheme might harm the service quality of mobile users.

The regulator, which is studying whether these two plans violate net neutrality, also asked telecom firms to clarify in one week whether the customers of these two plans entitled higher 4G speeds at the cost of service deterioration to other mobile users.

Bharti Airtel on last Monday announced new scheme in which it will give preference to platinum mobile customers, who pay Rs 499 and above per month for post paid connection, on its 4G network. The platinum customers will get better 4G speed on Airtel network compared to other customers, the company said.

Vodafone Idea in November introduced its RedX plan, offering up to 50% faster speeds and special services.