The matter of missed calls and incoming calls from different operators has existed in the industry since long now. This is the issue which sparked the debacle between the telecom operators, but now the issue has finally come to an end as the industry watchdog, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai), has issued its order on the matter. The regulator has said that the calls coming from other networks will terminate after 30 seconds of ringing. To recall, a few weeks back, Reliance Jio had gone ahead and reduced the ringing time to 20 seconds down from the previous time of 45 seconds. After this matter, Bharti Airtel and Reliance Jio were on polar ends of the spectrum with a heated ground in the middle since lower ringing time meant more outgoing calls from other telecom operators apart from Reliance Jio.
Trai Sets 30 Seconds as Call Ringing Limit for All Operators
According to Trai decision, the “originating network may release an unanswered call after 90 seconds in case the call release message is not received from the terminating network.” This new report comes from Mint, which has detailed that Trai now asks the telecom operator to hold the ringing call for 30 seconds before it is terminated by the receiving network. But, in case the termination signal is not generated by the receiving network, then the originating network can hold the call for 90 seconds at max. All three telecom operators in the industry had stood for different time spans for ringing calls. While Reliance Jio wanted a shorter ringing time of 20 to 25 seconds, Vodafone Idea wanted 30 seconds limit. Whereas, Bharti Airtel wished for a 90-second ringer.
Issue Over IUC Comes to End
To recall, the first spark in this row was brought forth by Reliance Jio which had reduced the ringing time to 25 seconds. The telecom operator had done this to restore network symmetry which does not persist in the telecom industry now. With Reliance Jio boasting of a massive 350 million+ subscriber base, the telecom operator makes the most originating calls on the network to other operators. This, in turn, translates to a heavy IUC payout for the Mukesh Ambani led telecom operators. In this IUC payout, Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea are the telecom operators which are the net gainers. Hence, going by this information, it is obvious for Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel to ask for higher ringing time and for Reliance Jio to ask for lower ringing time.
Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel Row Also Ends
A lower ringing time for Reliance Jio subscribers dialling to other networks would mean that the subscribers would not have enough time to pick up these calls, and they would dial back to the number thus creating an influx of incoming calls from networks like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone Idea back to Reliance Jio, a move in the direction of network symmetry. However, soon after Reliance Jio had reduced its ringing time, the rival telco Bharti Airtel had also reduced its ringing time for outgoing calls to other operators down to 25 seconds in retaliation. While Reliance Jio’s move was claimed by the company to be a move for better utilisation of spectrum resources, Bharti Airtel’s move was more a start to a new battle in the industry.
After this row, Trai had floated a consultation paper in the industry asking the stakeholders to present their views on the matter of how long the calls should ring for the outgoing call to other networks. Now, based on the comments and keeping in mind the views of the industry, Trai has set the limit of call ringing to 30 seconds.
