Jio announces free domestic voice calls to other networks from Jan 1 as IUC regime ends

On Thursday, Reliance Jio, the country's largest telecom operator by subscribers, announced that calls to other networks in India by its users will be free from Friday when the IUC regime ends.

Voice calls to opposing networks are usually paid with an interconnect usage charge (IUC). The 6-paise per minute IUC was to compensate for the expense of completing the call incurred by the opposing network.

Thus, besides Jio charging its users for data use only and keeping voice calls free, when its customers made a call to other networks, a 6 paise had to be charged to rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea.

As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) Sector Regulator, the IUC regime ends on January 1, 2021.

The "Bill and Keep regime" is being introduced in the country as of January 1, 2021, according to the directions of the telecom regulator, thus ending IUC rates for domestic rates.

As soon as IUC charges are eliminated, Jio will again make all off-net domestic voice calls free, starting on 1 January 2021, in recognition of its promise to revert off-net domestic voice call charges to zero. On the Jio network, on-net domestic voice calls have always been free.

Off-net calls apply to calls that terminate within the networks of other operators.

The zero-IUC regime was originally expected to come into force in January 2020, but the telecoms regulator postponed its enforcement last year.

IUC is a fee charged to another operator by a telco when its customers make voice calls to subscribers of that network, and these payments were 6 paise per minute.

Jio said, it was left with no choice but to start charging its users for off-net voice calls in September 2019, when TRAI extended the timetable for the introduction of the Bill & Keep regime beyond 1 January 2020, at a cost exactly equal to the applicable IUC fee.

The company had assured its customer that the charge would continue only until the TRAI abolished IUC charges.

Jio said, “Today, Jio has achieved on that promise and made off-net voice calls free again" (Voice over Long Term Evolution).”

Disclaimer: This information has been collected through secondary research and IBEF is not responsible for any errors in the same.