Trai defers zero-IUC regime for a year, to take effect from January, 2021

NEW DELHI: The telecom regulator has deferred by a year implementation of the zero-interconnect usage charges (IUC) regime that was slated to kick in from January 2020.

“For wireless to wireless domestic calls, termination charge would continue to remain as Re.0.06 (paise six only) per minute up to 31st December, 2020; from 1st January, 2021 onwards the termination charge for wireless to wireless domestic calls shall be zero,” Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said in a release on Tuesday.

ET had first reported about the deferment earlier Tuesday.

Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel had backed postponing implementation of the zero-IUC regime, as they are net revenue earners. Reliance Jio, which is a net payer, had opposed any deferral.

The telecom regulator in September had issued a discussion paper on deferring the implementation of the zero-interconnect usage charges (IUC) regime, saying that consumers are yet to migrate completely to data calls and that the imbalance in voice traffic between operators still exists.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), in the paper, sought stakeholder views on the need to “revise the applicable January 2020 date for implementing the BAK (bill and keep) or zero-termination charge regime,” and parameters that need to be adopted to set an alternative date.

At present, interconnect charge is paid by the call-originating telco to the destination operator. But under the proposed BAK system, which is set to take effect from January, the call-originating telco, which also bills the user, would keep the money, thus making it a zero-IUC regime.