The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has released a new set of guidelines for protection of interest of the prepaid customers under which the telecom operators in the country will have to make the usage data available to the customers.

The telecom operators will be required to provide updates on all the calls made and data usages by a prepaid mobile user. They will have to send details via SMS or USSD-based flash message. The information must include prepaid balance after 2G/3G data usages and other details.

The authority believes that the new guidelines will help in making prepaid customers more aware about the charges they pay to their telecom service providers for using services. The TRAI has also made changes to tariff vouchers.

Meanwhile, the authority said on Friday that is considering floating a pre-consultation paper for the exit policy for the telecom operators in the country. The telecom department in India had asked TRAI last year to prepare a exit policy for telecom operators from for licensees of all types of licenses. The exit policy will be meant to guide operators who wish to exit from the business of providing services under a licence.