New Delhi, Feb 16: Expressing concern over certain tariff schemes, offered by telecom operators that provide free or concessional calls, the telecom regulator today said that these features appear to ''infringe'' upon the non-discriminatory code that it had emphasised earlier. TRAI said that it has come to their notice that the tariff under some schemes like the closed user group (CUG), virtual private network (VPN) etc has in-built features to provide free or concessional calls. ''This feature appears to infringe upon the principle of non-discrimination, which has repeatedly been enunciated by the authority,'' TRAI said in a statement.

Also the tariff concessions applicable to CUG/VPN subscribers of one network cannot be extended to subscribers of another network by virtue of definition of CUG/VPN.

The authority said that it is concerned whether such tariff plans, would amount to dilution of the principle of non-discrimination emphasised by it. TRAI had released a consultation paper on ''application of principle of non-discrimination in tariff schemes like CUG, VPN, Friends and Family (F and F) today and written comments are invited on this paper by March 05.

The comments would be on whether differential tariff for calls within the network should continue to be treated as discriminatory. Whether CUG and VPN schemes should be disallowed as it involves differential call charges and this amounts to discrimination. And whether certain terms and conditions are to be prescribed by the authority to ensure that these schemes are not misused.

Bureau Report