Reliance Jio makes domestic calls to all networks free from January 1

The telco has revoked interconnect usage charges following Trai's announcement earlier this month that the IUC termination for all domestic voice calls in the country would be extended by another year

Reliance Jio on Thursday announced it would revoke from January 1, 2021, the interconnect usage charges (IUC) it had levied a few months earlier on all domestic voice calls. This effectively means that all domestic voice calls from the network would be free for its users. The move follows an announcement by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) earlier in December that IUC on all domestic voice calls in the country should be discontinued.

“Honouring its commitment to revert off-net domestic voice-call charges to zero, as soon as IUC charges are abolished, Jio will once again make all off-net domestic voice calls free, starting January 1, 2021. On-net domestic voice calls have always been free on the Jio network,” Jio said in a statement.

IUC is the fee paid by one telecom operator to another when its customers make outgoing calls to the other operator's customers. In September 2019, Jio had started charging its customers for off-net voice calls in view of Trai's decision to extend the timeline for implementation of the Bill & Keep regime beyond January 1. However, the company had assured that the IUC on off-net calls would continue only till Trai abolishes the IUC. Now that Trai has extended the termination of IUC by a year, Reliance Jio customers will be able to make off-net calls for free from January 1.

“When Trai extended the timeline for implementation of the Bill & Keep regime beyond January 1, 2020, Jio was left with no option but to start charging its customers for off-net voice calls, at a rate exactly equivalent to the applicable IUC charge. While doing so, Jio had assured its users that this charge would continue only till Trai abolished IUC charges. Today, Jio has delivered on that promise and made off-net voice calls free again,” Jio said in a statement.