COAI Approaches Trai for Extension on Interconnect Usage Charge Comments

Advertisement
By Press Trust of India | Updated: 20 September 2016 18:12 IST
COAI Approaches Trai for Extension on Interconnect Usage Charge Comments

COAI, which had criticised the regulator's move to review the interconnection usage charge, has urged Trai to extend deadline for submission of comments on the contentious consultation paper by more than two months, citing operators' preoccupation with the upcoming auction.

"We have sought additional time of over two months' from the day spectrum auction concludes... this additional time will allow us to give a thorough and holistic response on the IUC paper," COAI Director General Rajan S Mathews told PTI.

The association has written to the regulator in this regard, he added.

Mathews said COAI has sought the extension as the same team within telecom companies (operators) which are going to be involved in the spectrum bidding will also be involved in the IUC paper.

Advertisement

"After the auction, the festive season will kick in and some people may be away... So, we are saying that given that the IUC issue is contentious and the fact that Reliance Jio has also entered the market, the mobile operators want more time for a thorough analysis before submitting their views," he said.

The telecom regulator Trai has already extended, by three weeks, the deadline for receiving industry's comments on the IUC discussion paper - thus pushing back the previous timeline for the review process.

Advertisement

Trai, which is in the midst of reviewing the interconnection usage charge (IUC) - paid by one telecom operator to another for connecting phone calls - had originally sought public comments on its discussion paper by September 5 and counter-comments by September 19.

Trai had then extended the deadline for submission of written comments to September 26 and for counter-comments to October 10.

Advertisement

The discussion paper had kicked up a storm, with incumbent operators under the aegis of the cellular association accusing the sectoral regulator of favouring new entrants with its policies.

The cellular body had earlier termed the regulator's consultation on call connect charges as "unfair" on incumbent operators and had alleged that Trai's discussion paper was an indicator of "bias creeping in".

COAI had also questioned the regulator's urgency in initiating the process of inter-connect review and had approached the Telecom Department to express its concern over the issue.

A mobile operator levies IUC for each incoming call it gets from subscriber of another network and the mobile to mobile termination charge is currently pegged at 14 paise per minute - these rates will undergo a relook as part of the IUC consultation process.

However, the top three operators - Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea - which are engaged in a bitter inter-connect fight with the new entrant Reliance Jio, have been claiming that the real cost of termination is significantly higher than the current inter-connect settlement charge of 14 paise prescribed in the present IUC regime.

The incumbent players, in their tussle with the new entrant, have in fact claimed that they are incurring increasing costs due to high level of asymmetric traffic coming in from the Jio network.

 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Nothing Phone 3 to Be Equipped With the Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 SoC
  2. Samsung Galaxy S25 Ultra Price in India Discounted for a Limited Time
  3. Samsung's 3nm Exynos 2500 SoC to Get This Major Connectivity Feature
  4. Poco F7 5G to Launch in India and Global Markets on This Date
  5. Samsung Galaxy Watch to Soon Get Bedtime Guidance, Vascular Load Features
  1. Nintendo Direct Livestream Featuring Donkey Kong Bananza Announced for June 18
  2. Amazfit Active 2 Square Debuts With 1.75-Inch AMOLED Display and Up to 10 Days Battery Life
  3. Samsung’s Exynos 2500 SoC Confirmed to Feature Satellite Connectivity Ahead of Galaxy Z Flip 7 Launch
  4. Nothing Phone 3 Confirmed to Come With Snapdragon 8s Gen 4 SoC Ahead of July 1 Launch
  5. Samsung Galaxy M36 5G India Launch Teased; Rear Design and Price Range Revealed
  6. Reddit Unveils Reddit Community Intelligence, Its Suite of AI-Powered Ad Tools for Enterprises
  7. Sony Bravia 8 II QD-OLED TV Series With Acoustic Surface+ Audio, Studio Calibrated Mode Launched in India
  8. Asus Unveils Refreshed Vivobook S16, S16 OLED Laptops in India Alongside Vivobook S14: Price, Features
  9. Apple Watch Ultra 3 Said to Launch This Year; Product Roadmap for Next Three Years Leaked
  10. Google Unveils India-Focused Safety Charter, Shares How It Is Using AI to Combat Online Frauds and Scams
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.