Indian telecom regulator urges revamp of SMS billing

Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) proposed radical changes to the existing billing patterns of SMS, value-added services, short-duration calls and premium-rate services.
In its consultation paper on billing issues, TRAI proposed that subscribers pay the prescribed SMS charges only after the message is delivered. The paper called upon service providers to build mechanisms to reject any SMS to an invalid number, as this would help reduce the incidence of non-delivery of messages and also ensure that subscribers were not charged for a service not availed of. An alternative floated by the paper is: charge an SMS in two parts – when it is sent successfully and when it is received.
TRAI invited responses from stakeholders on the issues raised by the consultation paper by the month-end.