New Delhi: Telecom regulator Trai on Tuesday said that it has called a meeting of operators over allegations by incumbents telecom service providers that Jio’s free voice call is violating norms.
“I have called for a meeting on Friday or may be Monday. Some telecom service companies had written to us alleging that Reliance Jio has violated some (tariff) order. So, for that they had sought a meeting,” said Trai chairman R.S. Sharma.
Some operators have alleged that free voice calls offered by Jio is against interconnection usage charge (IUC) tariff order. In India a telecom operator whose customer is calling, pays an IUC charge to the other operator whose customer is getting the call. Currently IUC charge is 14 paise per minute.
Incumbent operators allege that offering free voice call is a case of predatory pricing because it is below IUC charge which is 14 paise per minute. Asked about his view on the ongoing tussle between the telecom operators, Mr Sharma said he has urged the operators to find the “right path”.
Jio and incumbent operators are at loggerheads over ‘points of interconnect’ to facilitate voice calls among their networks. Jio has alleged that incumbent operators have not provided it with sufficient PoIs so its customers are facing call drops. “I hope this will come to the right path. That’s what I have urged for. There is no regulatory gap in this situation. Licensing conditions are absolutely clear, quality of service is absolutely clear, so there is no regulatory vacuum,” he said.
