Idea, RCom stocks drop; Airtel recovers early losses

Shares of telecom companies such as Idea Cellular and Reliance Communications ended the day with losses of up to 3.4 per cent after Trai more than halved mobile interconnection charges to 6 paise a minute.
The scrip of Idea Cellular fell by 3.43 per cent to end at Rs 80.15 on BSE. During the day, it tumbled 7.4 per cent to Rs 76.85.
Shares of Reliance Communications closed the day 1.74 per cent lower at Rs 19.80 after falling 4.21 per cent to Rs 19.30 in intra-day trade.
Tata Teleservices (Maharashtra) also dipped 1.90 per cent to settle at Rs 6.19. During the day, it had lost 3 per cent to Rs 6.12.

Shares of Bharti Airtel however, recovered early losses and ended with a marginal gain of 0.39 per cent at Rs 396.25. During the day, the stock had fallen by 6.25 per cent to Rs 370.
Shares of RIL also rose by 0.85 per cent to Rs 847.10. Intra-day, it gained 3.82 per cent to Rs 872.10 -- its 52-week high.

Telecom regulator Trai yesterday announced slashing of mobile call connection charge by more than half to 6 paise a minute and said no rate will apply from January 1, 2020, a move that may benefit newcomer Reliance Jio.
Mobile companies currently charge 14 paise a minute for allowing a domestic call from a rival operator to terminate on their network. This charge, called Interconnection Usage Charge or IUC, will be 6 paise per minute from October 1, 2017, Trai said in a statement.

Established telecom operators have argued that every call on the network has a cost, and expenses of an incoming call on their network should be borne by the operator from whose network the call has originated.