With the cancellation of interconnect usage charges (IUC), telecom service provider, Jio announced on Thursday, that subscribers will not have to pay for voice calls on any network from January 1.
While a call from a Jio phone to the other is free, last year the telecom company started charging fees a top-up charge above the free limit for extra voice minutes. That’s going to stop now, said an executive. Airtel and Vodafone Idea offer integrated packages with unlimited talk to 4G customers. They charge customers for voice service by using the 2G service.
For calls being made from its network to various service providers, a telecom company pays 6 paise per minute. Before this announcement, users if want to call a non-Jio user, have to pay some amount after their free limit time per call crosses.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) delayed the introduction of zero IUC charges last December in 2020 until 1 January 2021.
Although there will be a reduction in telecom companies’ expected revenue per user (ARPU), savings will be compensated because no fee will have to be made to competing companies. Hence, there will be no substantial profitability effects. A business is a net winner if it has a larger percentage of other networks’ incoming calls.
For Airtel, an observer said the effect of cancellation would be optimistic. Vodafone Idea was an IUC net recipient, and the figure would also have been influenced by a drop in its customer base in the last 12 months. Both Jio and Airtel have added customers in the period.
Statements After This Announcement Of Jio:
Jio made many valid statements during this time. “(In accordance with the) directions of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (“TRAI”), the Bill and Keep regime is being implemented in the country from January 1, 2021, thereby ending interconnect usage charges (IUC) for all domestic voice calls. Honoring its commitment to revert off-network domestic voice-call charges to zero, as soon as IUC charges are abolished, Jio will once again make all off-net (Jio to non-Jio) domestic voice calls free, starting January 1, 2021. On-net domestic voice calls have always been free on the Jio network,” Jio, our most popular telecom service provider stated in the announcement.
There were also various talks held after this decision. Various companies have various views. At this time, Vodafone spokesperson also made some statements. He said, “For all Vi, Unlimited pack users, domestic calls to other networks anywhere in India, has always been free and will continue to be free 1st Jan 2021 onwards as well.”
