IUC report: Reliance Jio alleges Rs 100,000 cr bonanza to incumbents

Says bonanza due to IUC suggestions not being carried out by Trai

Stepping up its attack on incumbents, Reliance Jio has alleged that three major operators benefitted by over Rs 100,000 crore in the past five years owing to non-implementation of the telecom regulator’s 2011 recommendations on interconnect usage charges (IUC), or terminating charges.

In an affidavit to the Supreme Court in 2011, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) had recommended that the IUC charges be cut to half from 20 paisa and gradually shifted to the ‘bill and keep’ model — which means zero charge — by 2014. But in 2015, the IUC was only brought down to