Trai may ban Vodafone, RComm's 'unlimited' Hungama.com offers

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) may ban Vodafone and Reliance Communications' offers where the two telecom players are offering unlimited movies to its customers from Hungama.com, Assem Manchanda reported. 

The Trai said that the offers may be revoked as they are in violations of the differential pricing norms put in place earlier this year. 

@TRAI set to ban @VodafoneIN n @Reliancemobile movie streaming through hungama as they violate differential tariffs order. @ZeeBusiness

— aseem manchanda (@aseemmanchanda) August 29, 2016

Earlier this year, in February, Trai ruled that no service provider will offer or charge discriminatory tariffs for data services offered based on content. 

Vodafone and Reliance Communications have a tie-up with Hungama.com to let customers stream its movies. However, it has now come to Trai's notice that the companies are offering unlimited movies to its customers in violation of the differential pricing rules. 

Trai's decision may come as a big blow to both the companies as rivals Airtel and Reliance Jio have their own content store. Which means, they can provide any offers on content to the customers without violating Trai's rules. 

So, according to Trai's differential pricing rules released in February, the violation could cost these telcos Rs 50,000 per day to a maximum of Rs 50 lakh in penalties.