Reliance Jio has added the interconnect user charge cost separately instead of hiding it under an overall bundle offer like other operators because the company wants to be transparent to customers about the IUC charge, said Mathew Oomen, president (networks), Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd.

"Jio has made a conscious decision of hiding behind overall tariffs. The best transparency framework is to tell the customer what the IUC cost is," said Oomen to Business Standard in an interview. Reliance Jio also wants to communicate to customers that they are getting back what they are paying in the form of data, he added.

Reliance Industries-owned Reliance Jio on October 10 announced that it will charge customers 6 paise per minute for voice calls made to other operators. The decision was taken after the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India proposed to postpone its plan to terminate the IUC charge.

What Jio's 'free voice calls for life" promise

Trai's consultation paper about the IUC charge just three prior to the implementation was a surprise for the whole industry, said Oomen, adding that generally, consultation papers come two years before something is being implemented. This clearly derailed Reliance Jio's Bill And Keep process, Oomen told Business Standard.

Reliance Jio has been subsidising Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea as around 30 percent of the missed calls used to come from those operators, said Oomen.

impact on customers

Oomen said he was told that Reliance Jio's tariff plans are still cheaper than those of rivals. "WhatsApp calls in this country have skyrocketed and the number is expected to go further up. So I think you will see different behaviour in people as WhatsApp is prevalent across segments," Oomen was quoted as saying in the newspaper.

5G spectrum and its pricing

The current price set by Trai for the 5G spectrum is higher than anywhere on the planet and it is discouraging for the telecom operators, who would have to raise funds to invest in 5G, said Oomen.

"I'm not very clear on what is coming in which band and how much is coming," he said, adding that he is awaiting specifications and further details.

Disclosure: Reliance Industries, the promoter of Reliance Jio, also controls Network18, the parent company of CNBCTV18.com.

First Published:Oct 16, 2019 12:10 PM IST