New Delhi. Telecom regulator TRAI i.e. Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday proposed to remove the charges on Unstructured Supplementary Service Data ie USSD (Unstructured Supplementary Service Data) messages for mobile banking and payment services. At present, TRAI has fixed the price of 50 paise for the USSD session. Each session can be completed in eight stages.
It is worth noting that the USSD message is visible on the screen of the mobile phone and it is not stored in the phone like SMS. This technique is widely used in the pop-up message given after deducting money after a mobile phone conversation or SMS.
This has been suggested by a high level committee set up by the Reserve Bank of India (RBI) to promote digital payments and financial inclusion. The Department of Financial Services also agrees with these recommendations of the committee.
TRAI said in a statement that after the request of the Department of Financial Services to the Department of Telecommunication in this regard, TRAI has analyzed different aspects of the matter. TRAI believes that facilitating USSD charges is necessary to protect the interests of USSD users and promote digital services.
TRAI said, “The authority has proposed zero charge per USSD session for USSD based mobile banking and payment services. In this, other things related to USSD have been kept as before.
