Earlier today, Reliance Jio made the much-awaited change to its prepaid and postpaid plans. The telco has removed the six paise per minute charges to outgoing calls made by its users to other networks. This means Jio has removed the FUP limit on non-Jio calls on the unlimited combo plans. As everyone might be aware of by now, Reliance Jio is the only telco that charged for non-Jio calls, whereas Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel always offered unlimited voice calls without any FUP limit. Right after Jio's announcement, Vodafone Idea' spokesperson said that voice calls have already been free on its network without any embargo and it will continue to provide unlimited calling benefit to the customers.
Vodafone Idea Says It Will Continue Offering Unlimited Voice Calls
Reliance Jio introduced the six paise per minute charges towards IUC in late 2019 after Trai decided to postpone the implementation of Zero IUC regime to January 2021. With the Zero IUC regime set to start on January 1, 2021, Jio fulfilled its promise by removing the FUP limit/charges it collected for non-Jio calls. For every Rs 10 IUC, Reliance Jio offered its users 1GB of data. For example, if you recharge the telco's Rs 10 IUC pack, you will also get 1GB of free 4G data voucher.
While this news will come as a relief for Jio customers, Vodafone Idea took a jab at the country's leading telecom operator. A Vodafone Idea spokesperson said “Vi customers have always enjoyed truly unlimited services with Vi Unlimited packs. Customers recharging with Vi Unlimited packs can continue to call their friends and family across all networks without any embargo even on calls made to other networks. Vi customers have never had to take any additional IUC pack. Hence, Vi UL packs remain truly unlimited."
The spokesperson reassured that the domestic calls to other networks anywhere in India has always been free and will continue to remain free even in 2021. While introducing the Interconnect Usage Charges of six paise per minute last year, Reliance Jio blamed the incumbents' Airtel and Vodafone Idea saying they are charging for voice calls, whereas it is ready to welcome the Zero IUC regime.
The Trai favoured the incumbents and deferred the Zero IUC regime implementation to January 2021. Since Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel now have a complete VoLTE network across India, they are ready to scrap the Interconnect Usage Charges.
