Jio and Airtel-Vodafone Idea spar at Trai IUC meet

NEW DELHI: Reliance Jio sparred with older operators Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel on the issue of reviewing interconnect usage charges (IUC) at the telecom regulator’s open house discussion Friday.

Latest telecom entrant Jio argued that there were no grounds to delay implementation of the zero-IUC regime since traffic symmetry between operators had been achieved. But, incumbent players Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea countered that IUC should not come down to zero, from 6 paise at present, and that the bill and keep (BAK) regime – under which IUC is nil – should be postponed by at least three years.

Telecom Regulator Authority of India (Trai) chairman RS Sharma said that the regulator will bring out a regulatory framework on the matter soon. “We will come up with regulation on IUC as soon as possible,” he said, when asked about a timeline.