Reportedly industry association COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said the decision of Reliance Jio to charge voice calls to rival networks at 6 paise a minute due to a pending timeline over inter-connect charge phase-out is a positive development for the sector but there is unlikely to be any upward pressure on voice tariffs by incumbents due to this. Mathews told "From the incumbents' perspective, this is very positive although the (sector regulator) TRAI has not made any final decision on the matter. I don't see any upward pressure immediately on tariffs which are driven by market forces".
He added "We have always said in a calling party pay regime, interconnect calls can never be easier in the global perspective and situation. That's the position of a majority of our members. But Jio has a different stand”. When refuting Jio's charge that TRAI’s move to float a fresh consultation paper on the timeline of IUC will create a regulatory uncertainty, Mathews said: "It has not really created any uncertainty. TRAI had indicated that they will review and take the final call in January and they have done that only and the outcome may have some uncertainty..."
Moreover a fresh telecom war between Reliance Jio and incumbent telcos Airtel and Vodafone-Idea erupted on Wednesday after the mukesh ambani company said it would charge 6 paise per minute for making calls to other networks.
