Outgoing voice calls from Reliance Jio are no longer completely free

Reliance Jio: Reliance Jio on Wednesday announced that it will charge its subscribers 6 paise per minute for voice calls to other mobile networks. The Mumbai-based telecom operator claimed that the new voice call charges have been introduced due to TRAI’s interconnect usage charge. This charge is for outgoing calls between two different networks. These calls are referred to as off-net voice calls. This change is for making voice calls to other telecom operators. While Jio to Jio numbers, incoming calls and Jio to landline calls will remain free as before. There will be no extra charge for this.

Reliance Jio has introduced four IUC top-up vouchers for prepaid customers for off-net voice calls. These range from Rs 10 to Rs 100. Jio has said that in lieu of IUC top up vouchers, customers will be given additional data, so that customers do not have to pay additional tariffs. Apart from this, postpaid Jio customers will be charged at the rate of 6 paise per minute for off-net data outgoing calls. Postpaid customers will also be given additional data.

IUC Top-up Voucher (Rupees)	IUC Minutes (Non-Jio Network)	Free Data (GB)
10	124	1
20	249	2
50	656	5
100	1,362	10

Reliance Jio issued a statement to the media saying that for off-net voice calls on other networks, telecom operators have to pay interconnect usage charges. For this reason, under compulsion, now customers will be charged. The operator claimed that in the last three years, it paid Rs 13,500 from its revenue on account of interconnect usage charges. Jio alleges that in 2017, TRAI had changed the IUC charge. But other telecom operators had increased the tariff for voice calls by Rs 1.50 per minute.

Reliance Jio has assured that outgoing off net calls will be charged at 6 paise per minute till TRAI scraps IUC completely. It is worth noting that TRAI has set a target of zero termination charge by January 1, 2020. If this happens, after this date, customers will not have to pay any charges for off-net voice calls.