Reliance Jio charge 6 Paise per Minute for Voice Calls to Other Networks

Reliance Jio has launched IUC top-up vouchers with additional data entitlement to reduce the burden of the new move. The charges should end on Jan 1. However, the company also announced that it will compensate customers by giving free data of equal value.

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Currently, Jio charges only for data, and voice calls to anywhere in the country and to any network are free. Reliance Industries chairman Mukesh Ambani had promised free unlimited voice calls on the Jio network.

Reliance Jio starts charging 6 Paise per Minute for voice calls to other networks

Country’s largest telcom operator Reliance Jio on Wednesday announced that it has decided to start charging six paise a minute to subscribers making calls to other mobile networks. The Mumbai-based operator claimed that the new voice charge would be at the prevailing Interconnect Usage Charge (IUC) rate that has been fixed by Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) for telcos enabling inter-networking outgoing calls, which are also known as off-net voice calls.

The new change is specifically designed for voice calls being made to other operators, while all Jio-to-Jio calls, incoming calls, and Jio-to-landline calls will remain to be available at no additional charge.

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Important Points:

Reliance Jio Starts Charging 6 Paise per Minute for Voice Calls to Other Networks. In this article we have describe few important things regarding this latest news, have a look.

1. This fee will be applicable from October 10, 35 million customers of Jio will be affected
2. Jio customers will have to take a top-up voucher for calls on other networks, the company will give free data on the price of the voucher
3. Calls, internet calls and incoming calls from Jio will be free as before
4. It will compensate customers by giving free data of equal value.
5. Reliance Jio customers will now have to pay 6 paise per minute for calling on another company’s network. For this, they will have to top-up the Interconnect Use Charge (IUC). However, the number of people who get the top will be compensated by giving free data of that value. This rule will come into effect from 10 October. The company gave this information on Wednesday.

Reliance Jio voice call charges

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To charge off-net voice calls, Reliance Jio announced four IUC top-up vouchers — valued between Rs. 10 and Rs. 100. The operator said that it will provide additional data entitlement of equivalent value based on the IUC top-up voucher consumption to ensure no increase in tariff for customers. Furthermore, postpaid Jio customers will also be billed at six paise per minute for off-net outgoing calls with an increase in free data entitlement to the extent provided in the vouchers.

Reliance Jio voice call charges

In a statement issued to the media, Reliance Jio said it had been forced to impose the outgoing call charge due to the IUC that operators need to pay for enabling off-net voice calls on their networks. The operator also claimed that due to bearing IUC from its own resources, it had paid nearly Rs. 13,500 crores to other operators in the last three years, while after the regulator in 2017 amended the IUC charge, other telcos continued to charge “exorbitant tariffs” and increased the tariffs for voice calls to around Rs. 1.50 per minute.

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“Jio will provide additional data entitlement of equivalent value based on IUC top-up voucher consumption. This will ensure no increase in tariff for customers,” said Jio, adding that the company assures its 35 crore customers that the 6 paise per minute charge on outgoing off-net mobile calls shall continue only till the time TRAI abolishes IUC.

Currently, Jio charges only for data, and voice calls to anywhere in the country and to any network are free. Reliance Jio assured that the six paise per minute charge on outgoing off-net calls should continue only till the time TRAI abolishes IUC completely. Notably, the regulator, as per its last amendment in 2017, is set to implement a zero termination charge regime on January 1, 2020. If no changes to this policy are made, post this date, there will be no voice call charges levied by Reliance Jio.

“We are hopeful that the IUC charge will be done away with as per the current regulation and that this temporary charge will come to an end by 31st December 2019 and consumers will not have to pay this charge thereafter,” Reliance Jio said in the statement.