On Wednesday, Reliance Jio announced that it will start charging its customers 6 per minute for voice calls made to users of another telecom network. But now, Reliance Jio has issued a public notice stating that all Jio subscribers who have recharged their connections on or before October 9 will not need to pay any Interconnect Usage Charge (IUC) fees, reported Indian Express.
According to the Indian Express report, the subscribers who have recharged their connections on or before October 9, will continue to enjoy free calling benefits until their plan expires.
Reliance Jio has started charging for voice calls made to subscribers of other telcos to account for the termination charges it pays its rivals Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which can possibly give a rise to tariffs rise in the telecom sector after years of brutal competition.
In a statement Wednesday, the Mukesh Ambani-led telco, which had promised to keep all voice calls free, said it was “compelled” to start charging its over 350 million users to recover the 6 paise a minute interconnect usage charge (IUC) it pays to other telcos, till the regulator brings the fee down to zero. But it will compensate its users by giving additional data, to ensure no “effective increase” in tariffs for its customers. Calls from Jio to Jio, to landlines and those made over apps such as WhatsApp will remain free. All Jio customers who want to make a voice call to either Vodafone Idea or Airtel will have to buy additional top-up vouchers of Rs 10, Rs 20, Rs 50 and Rs 100, for additional IUC minutes.
