Vodafone Says Will Triple Points of Interconnect With Reliance Jio

Telecom operator Vodafone India today said that it has decided to increase inter-connection capacity with Reliance Jio network. "Following guidance from Trai and clarifications from Jio regarding its commercial launch, Vodafone India has decided to increase the points of inter-connect (POIs) between the two operators by thrice and accordingly, increase the capacity to connect," Vodafone India said in a statement.

(Also see: Reliance Jio Speed Plummets After SIM Cards Become Available to Everyone)

Vodafone is the third incumbent operator, after Idea Cellular and Airtel, that has agreed to increase inter-connection points for Reliance Jio, paving the way for easy exchange of calls between subscribers of the two networks.

Inter-connection is required to enable mobile users to make calls to customers of other telecom networks. A mobile operator levies inter-connection usage charge for each incoming call it gets from a subscriber of another network. Incumbent carriers have been demanding higher inter-connection charges compared with 14 paise they get for each incoming mobile call on their networks.

Reliance Jio, which commercially launched its services on September 5, has accused the existing players of not releasing sufficient inter-connection ports which it feels is leading to call drops.

(Also see: Reliance Jio SIM Cards Are for Everyone, but Here's the Ground Reality)

"Vodafone India has always provided points of inter-connect (PoIs) to other operators for all their fair, reasonable and legitimate requirements and will continue to do so," Vodafone said.

"Vodafone is hopeful that all issues it has raised with Trai and Jio will be duly considered and resolved at the earliest."

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India has indicated that it will take strong action against telecom operators found responsible for poor quality of service. Jio has alleged that the situation on its network has deteriorated significantly in the last few weeks due to insufficient PoIs, with over 75 calls failing out of every 100 call attempts. As per the rules, not more than 5 calls can fail in every 1,000 calls made during a month.

(Also see: Reliance Jio Launch: Trai Meets Telecom Operators Over Interconnect Issues)

It further said that over 22 crore calls have failed on the Airtel network while 52 crore have failed cumulatively on the networks of the three incumbent operators -- Airtel, Vodafone and Idea in about last 10 days. "To create a truly connected, inclusive and Digital India, it is vital to have a level-playing field between providers offering the same service, encourage innovations and judiciously use a portfolio of technologies - 2G, 3G and 4G to service the evolving needs of consumers across the country," Vodafone said.