IUC cut ignores spectrum cost: Idea Cellular

Trai had cut IUC - paid by an operator on whose network the call terminates - by 57% from 14 paise per minute

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (Trai’s) decision to cut interconnection usage charges (IUC) to 6 paise per minute ignores the high cost of spectrum borne by telecom operators, said Idea Cellular in a statement on Thursday. 

On Tuesday, Trai had cut IUC — paid by an operator on whose network the call terminates — by 57 per cent from 14 paise per minute. The new rate is effective from October 1. Incumbent operators are upset with the Trai for using a new method to calculate long-run incremental cost (LRIC), which determines the price to be paid by competitors for