IUC row: Trai schedules open house debate for Nov 15 as telco war erupts

Sector regulator Trai has scheduled for November 15 its open house discussion on the interconnect usage charges (IUC) issue that has seen old and new operators erupt in a war of words recently.

According to the information on the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India's (Trai) website, the open house discussion (that typically follows written submissions on an issue being examined) for IUC has been scheduled for November 15.

It may be recalled that Airtel had earlier accused Reliance Jio of "gaming" the system of paying for calls to rival network, and Jio has returned fire arguing that incumbents are charging high voice tariffs and manipulating the system to the detriment of their users.

Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio had also alleged that review of call connect charges by Trai "sabotages" Prime Minister Narendra Modi's vision for Digital India, and will hit not only the regulator's credibility but also investor confidence as the move protects vested interests of some old operators.

Last month, Jio had also alleged that Trai's move is arbitrary, bad in law, unwarranted, and anti-poor, as the newest entrant mounted a relentless attack on the regulator and old operators over the contentious IUC (interconnect usage charge) issue that has polarised the industry.

Typically, a telecom operator pays for completing calls made by its subscribers to a rival network. This is done by paying the rival network an interconnect usage charge, which currently is 6 paise per minute.

Trai's move to reopen the deadline for ending charges for terminating calls on rival networks beyond January 2020 had forced Jio to levy a 6 paise per minute charge on its users recently, effectively ending its free call regime.