Jio to make all domestic calls free from January 1
Jio'>Reliance Jio on Thursday announced that all off-net domestic voice calls from its network to other networks made anywhere in India will be free from January 1, 2021. Currently, Jio customers are being charged for off-net calls due to interconnect usage charges (IUCs). However, the IUC regime is ending from January 1, 2021, as per directives by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI).
Jio 'honoring commitment to revert off-net call charges'
Reliance Jio said in a statement on Thursday, "Honoring its commitment to revert off-net domestic voice-call charges to zero, as soon as IUC charges are abolished, Jio will once again make all off-net domestic voice calls free, starting 1st January 2021." "On-net domestic voice calls have always been free on the Jio network," the statement added.
'Jio cares for every single user'
The company said that it had assured users that the charges would only be applicable as long as the ICU regime was in effect. "Jio stands firm on its commitment to make the common Indian the beneficiary of advanced technologies like VoLTE. Jio is a customer-obsessed organization and cares for every single user. All our users enjoy free voice calls with Jio," it said.
TRAI's 'Bill and Keep' regime being implemented from January 1
In September 2019, the TRAI had extended the implementation of IUC on mobile-to-mobile calls beyond January 1, 2020. Thereafter, Jio had started charging its users for off-net voice calls, at a rate exactly equivalent to the applicable IUC charge. Now, the 'Bill and Keep' regime is being implemented from January 1, 2021, thereby ending IUC charges for all domestic voice calls.
