At the end there are no free lunches: Singhvi on Jio

Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi on Thursday took a jibe at Reliance Jio after the mobile data network announced that calls made to other mobile operators will be charged at the prevailing interconnect usage charge (IUC) of 6 paise per minute through top-up vouchers till the time Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) abolishes IUC in line with its present regulation.

"JIO has decided to charge its customers because always remember that however big a lollypop you are offered, at the end there are no free lunches. Situation applicable to the present Modi Sarkar as well," Singhvi tweeted.

In a statement on Wednesday, Reliance Jio stated, "We will share all data with TRAI to convince that zero IUC regime is in the best interest of consumers and how the huge number of missed calls is creating the wrong perception of asymmetric traffic."

"We are hopeful that the IUC charge will be done away with as per the current regulation and that this temporary charge will come to an end by December 31 and consumers will not have to pay this charge thereafter," it added.

In the meantime, consumers can use the additional data entitlement in lieu of the IUC top-up vouchers so that there is no effective tariff increase till the year-end, Jio said.

IUC is a cost paid by one mobile telecom operator to another when its customers make outgoing mobile calls to the other operator's customers.