New Delhi:
If you are getting calls from phone numbers of Jio, Bharti Airtel or Vodafone Idea then please be quick to pick up. These telecom operators have slashed ring time on outgoing calls from their network to 25 seconds. Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea have made this decision to counter a similar move by Jio and plug losses amid a feud over the issue.
Airtel recently informed regulator TRAI about its decision in a letter, while sources told PTI that Vodafone Idea too has cut the ring time in select circles.
Airtel accepted the decison may cause customer inconvenience, but it had to cut call ring time in response to a similar move by Jio. The company said cutting the ring time would also help it in plugging further losses on Interconnect Usage Charges (IUC).
Originally the operators had a ring time of 45 seconds but Airtel had earlier accused Jio of arbitrarily slashing the ring duration. Jio had hit back saying globally most operators have an average ringing time of only 15-20 seconds. Sources said Vodafone Idea too has cut call ring duration to 25 seconds for select circles.
The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) had asked the warring operators to arrive at a mutually acceptable solution over the dispute until it concludes a formal consultation on the matter.
TRAI sources told PTI that the regulator is planning an open house discussion on the issue of 'duration of alert for the called party' on October 14, and the entire matter, for which a consultation paper has 0already been floated, will be decided soon.
Typically, a telecom operator pays for connecting calls of its subscribers to the company on whose network a call terminates. Currently, an operator is required to pay 6 paise per minute as mobile call termination charge, called IUC.
The IUC was originally proposed to be made nil from January 1, 2020. But TRAI is now reviewing the timeline.
