Telcos, ILDOs spar over international termination rate revenue share

New Delhi: Mobile phone operators Bharti Airtel, Reliance Jio Infocomm and Vodafone Idea on Monday sparred with pure-play international long-distance operators (ILDOs) such as Tata Communications and Spectra over the sharing of international call termination charges (ITC).

The telcos, at an open-house discussion on the issue organised by the telecom regulator, argued for raising the ITC to Rs 0.65-Rs 1.25, from Rs 0.30 currently. ILDOs said whatever be the rate, they wanted the ITC to be shared in the ratio of 60:40 between the terminating network, or a telco, and the ILDO, warning that their business was under threat. The telcos, who are also ILD and National Long Distance (NLD) licencees, opposed this proposal.