IUC has nothing to do with tariffs: Airtel CEO

NEW DELHI : Interconnect usage charge (IUC) is not related to the tariff charged by telecom operators from users and is simply a bilateral arrangement between operators, Bharti Airtel chief executive Gopal Vittal said on Tuesday.

“IUC has nothing to do with tariff. It’s a clearing house for the cost of carrying the call. It’s a bilateral thing between carriers,” Vittal said on the sidelines of a session at the India Mobile Congress on Tuesday.

Vittal’s statement comes a week after a fresh war of words erupted between Airtel and Reliance Jio after the latter, India’s only profitable telecom operator, said it will start charging for calls made to rival networks at 6 paise a minute, reneging on a promise to keep voice calls free for its customers.