Telcos erupt in a war of words amid Trai’s review of call connect rates; Airtel, Jio trade charges

NEW DELHI: After months of lull, old and new telcos on Monday locked horns with Airtel accusing Reliance Jio of “gaming” the system of paying for calls to rival network, a charge that Mukesh Ambani-led firm countered saying incumbents were charging high voice tariffs and manipulating the system to detriment of their users.

Without naming Reliance Jio, a senior Airtel official alleged that “one large 4G-only operator” has arbitrarily slashed ring time for outgoing calls to other networks, thereby converting calls into missed calls and triggering a call back.