Trai open house calls for zero mobile termination charge from next year

Except for beleaguered telecom majors Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, all participants at an open house urged the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) on Friday to implement zero mobile termination charge from January 1 next year as committed by the telecom regulator.

The open house organised by TRAI came amid a war of words with Airtel and Vodafone in favour of retaining the interconnect user charges (IUCs). TRAI Chairman R S Sharma said the final decision will be taken as soon as possible.

A day earlier, Airtel and Vodafone together reported a whopping Rs 74,000 crore loss in the July to September quarter of current financial year after making provisions for their liabilities. They maintain that the telecom sector is facing an unprecedented crisis after the recent Supreme Court judgement on definition of adjusted gross revenue (AGR).