Faced with regulatory heat on its controversial plan, Vodafone Idea Ltd has dropped faster data speed claims, which formed a prominent part of its pay-more-for-priority-treatment offering, and has filed a revised plan with Trai, a source said.
The move assumes significance as the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) late last month slapped a showcause notice on VIL over its priority mobile plan, saying the tariff offer lacked transparency, was “misleading” and not in compliance with regulatory framework.
The source said the company has now submitted a new RedX plan with Trai and claims of faster data speeds — a major bone of contention — has been done away with.
The company’s website is also no longer touting claims of faster speeds for RedX plan, which had been under Trai’s scanner over the past few weeks.
Instead, VIL’s website is talking of benefits purely in terms of entertainment privileges (Netflix and Amazon Prime), travel privileges, mobility benefits and other privileges.
In the new RedX plan, which has now been filed with Trai, the company has withdrawn the claim of “priority 4G network as compared to other Vodafone postpaid plans”, the source added.
VIL’s spokesperson declined to comment on the issue.
The regulator had, on August 25, issued a showcause notice asking the company “why appropriate action should not be initiated against it for violating the extant regulatory framework by its RedX tariff plan”.