Jio to charge users 6 paise per minute for outgoing calls

Starting today for all recharges done by Jio customers, outgoing calls made to other mobile operators will be charged at the 6 paise per minute till January 1, 2020, the company said in a press statement.

Standing tall on its commitment to provide free calls, Jio, however, will not levy any charge on calls made from Jio to Jio, all incoming calls, Jio to landline calls and for calls made using WhatsApp or FaceTime and similar platforms

Why 6 paise per minute?

Well, Interconnect Usage Charge or 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. These calls between two different networks are known as mobile off-net calls. IUC charges are fixed by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and are currently at 6 paise per minute.

TRAI has since 2011 said that the IUC charges should be brought down to Zero. Thus, relying on the repeated stance of TRAI, Mukesh Ambani-led Jio continued to pay IUC from its own resources to Airtel and Vodafone-Idea, etc, while at the same time offering a free voice to its customers. For the past three years, Jio has paid approx. Rs 13,500 crore as NET IUC charges to the other operators.

While the telecom operators have reduced voice tariffs for their 4G customers, they still continue to charge high tariffs to their 35 - 40 crore 2G customers, and in fact, increased the tariffs for voice calls to around Rs 1.50/ minute. The telecom companies also charge a minimum of Rs 500 per GB for 2G data. Thus, this price differential of free voice on the Jio network and high tariffs on 2G networks have caused the 35 - 40 crore 2G customers of Airtel and Vodafone-Idea to give missed calls to Jio customers. Jio network receives 25 to 30 crore missed calls on a daily basis.

The company has assured its 35 crore customers that the 6 paise per minute charge on outgoing off-net mobile calls shall only be applicable till the time TRAI abolishes IUC, in line with its present regulation. The company has said that it 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.