UPI and Telecom

/ TRAI / By

UPI and Telecom:
Analyzing TRAI’s Role in Enabling Seamless Services

UPI Pic
In recent years, the telecommunications industry has made a significant transformation – and the digitalization of transactions with the advent of the Unified Payments Interface (UPI) has only acted as a catalyst in the face of development and innovation. 
In fact, UPI has emerged as a game-changer, revolutionizing the way people do transactions and empowering billions with a simple, easy-to-understand, and secure payment system. 
With digitalization at the forefront of developments, The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has made tremendous changes and developments to make way for a more seamless and easier way of doing and offering services to the general public. This alone has left tons of positive responses from the general public.

UPI on how it revolutionizes the Telecom Industry:

The telecommunications industry has seen an ocean of change since its inception and one of the most popular innovations headed by TRAI has been UPI – With this form of digital payment system taking over the market by demand, the face of the telecommunications industry has seen revolutionizing change and how! 
  • Services, simplified: UPI has introduced a standardized payment structure that allows different banks and payment service providers to seamlessly connect and allow easy transactions. This has led to a simplification of services and the complete annihilation of the need for unnecessary multiple mobile wallets and bank apps, which also cause phone clutter by the way. This allows users for a truly unified payment experience. 
  • 24*7 Transactions, instantly: With TRAI regulating the services of UPI, tons of users can transfer funds instantly (taking less than 60 seconds!) – even outside banking hours. The system works round the clock, including weekdays, weekends, and even after 12 AM thus making it extremely easy to send or receive money, whenever needed. 
  • Leading the way for a Cashless Economy: UPI has played a key and pivotal role in driving and leading India toward a cashless economy. Since TRAI regulates UPI, it ensures that users experience a truly seamless service – and thanks to digitalization, UPI has reduced the reliance on physical currency, thereby encouraging cashless transactions. This has contributed to the country’s financial inclusion efforts immensely. 
  • Improved Merchant Transactions: UPI has empowered merchant transactions by a long shot – this has been achieved by enabling the acceptance of digital payments. Through QR code implementations, merchants can easily receive payments from customers – thus reducing the reliance and need for cash transactions which also lead to associated hassles like keeping money change. 
  • Merge with various services: UPI has gone beyond just peer-to-peer money transactions –  users can do so much with UPI. They can make bill payments, book flight, and train tickets, avail offers on financial products, earn cashback, etc. directly through their UPI-enabled thereby offering unmatched convenience. 
  • Innovation and Competition: With UPI as the underlying platform, various financial institutions like banks and fintech companies have introduced several features for easy use such as voice-recognition payments, voice-assistance, and personalized offers. All of these play a major role in enhancing and improving the overall payment experience for users across India.
  • Financial Inclusion Efforts Met: UPI with the administration of TRAI, has made a significant achievement in terms of its contribution to financial inclusion. This means that payments are accessible in all corners of the country, and to the vast population – this includes those who had limited or no access to banking services in the rural areas. The newfound ease of use and low transaction costs associated with UPI have brought millions of individuals together, to be part of the financial system thereby enhancing financial inclusion.

The UPI-Effect: Transaction Hike up to 650%

Thanks to the telecom industry digitizing payments, there has been far spread out access of such services in scattered parts of the country. In 2022, PayNearby (a branchless banking and digital network) saw a whopping 650% and 500% hike in value and volume across retail counters which signifies that there is a growing adoption of UPI far beyond Tier II regions of the country.
The growth in terms of value and volume indicates a behavioral shift with people beginning to adopt and rely more on assisted digital means for banking requirements, rather than heading to their local bank branches and waiting in line for unknown periods of time. 
This also highlights the pivotal role of UPI and how it plays as a kingpin in  promoting the digital financial inclusion of the country.

Developments at TRAI - Paving the Path for Seamless Services

TRAI
2016: The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) back in 2016, had issued a proposal to make digital payments a lot more accessible for Indian users – this was done by introducing Unstructured Supplementary Service Data (USSD) messages, which would be  free for all mobile customers. 
The USSD messages are often used for banking and SIM services on phones that do not have access to the Internet.
This may sound ancient and something found in History books, but there was a time when smartphones were tiny phones without internet and any features!
At that time, it was the Government’s proposal to bring the cost of USSD messages down to zero from 50 paise. 
In its report, TRAI said that the proposal for USSD messages free for all users, was based on recommendations of a high-level committee that encouraged digital payments in the country. 
Since 2016, a lot has happened and a lot of developments have taken place which has helped take digitization of payments via UPI to new horizons.
 
2022:  The Union Government released the draft of ‘The Indian Telecommunication Bill 2022’ with several significant changes such as: 
-Inclusion of OTT (over the top television), in the definition of Telecommunication services thus services like Whatsapp, Telegram will be covered for reduced cost, seamless voice calls and messages.
– Creating a telecommunication development Fund
– Preventing cyber frauds by providing the identity of the person sending a message and receiving it. 
The draft Bill represents an important step but there is a need to address concerns of various stakeholders in the telecom industry.
 
2023: The most recent development took place 8 days ago on August 21, whereby TRAI proposed the use of artificial intelligence (AI) to monitor the quality of wireless and wireline service. 
According to TRAI,” quality of service (QoS) monitoring may be achieved by collection, processing, and correlation of performance data.” TRAI believes that AI can play a significant role in effectively managing and controlling QoS in a network.
This latest development has come at a time where several companies and businesses have started leveraging the AI boom. Recently, the Reserve Bank of India has also proposed conversational payments on UPI using AI. 

Conclusion

The Telecom Regulatory Authority (TRAI) has taken countless initiatives to make telecom services easy, more accessible and convenient for users far and wide – and we all know that one such initiative that has taken the country to new lengths is the integration of Unified Payments Interface with telecom services. 
In the face of digitalization, the advent of UPI regulated by TRAI has undoubtedly revolutionized the payment industry in India. UPI’s seamless and secure transaction process, combined with its unique ability towards financial inclusion and drive towards a cashless economy has transformed the way India does payments. With such a revolution in toe, India’s future looks rather bright with digital payments.
TRAI has also issued a word of advise to all DTH operators to allow and enable online payment systems using Bharat Interface for Money (BHIM)/UPI and Bharat QR Code.

References

UPI transactions jump 650% in semi-urban, rural areas: PayNearby (techcircle.in)

This Is Govt’s New Plan To Make More People Use UPI And Other Digital Payments - News18

Discuss the role of TRAI in India’s telecom growth story. What are the pros and cons of the recent provisions related to TRAI in the Telecom Bill? - GKToday

UPI: Revolutionizing the Payment Industry with Seamless Transactions | by Utkarsh Shukla | Medium