Trai is planning to conclude IUC review soon; new framework for charges in the works

Indian telecom regulator plans to conclude the long-drawn interconnection usage charge (IUC) review as soon as possible, a top official said here on Thursday."I can't give a deadline. I think it will take some time, but we will do it as soon as possible. We have heard and consulted everybody. Trai (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) takes six months to conclude a particular thing, in this case it is over a year now," TRAI Chairman R.S. Sharma told reporters after an open house meeting on IUC here with the industry stakeholders."We are working on a new framework for IUC charges," he added. The consultation on the matter started a year back. The telecom service providers like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India, Reliance Jio, Reliance Communications, Idea Cellular, Tata Teleservices participated in the open-house discussion among other industry stakeholders.Incumbent players in the telecom sector like Airtel, Vodafone and Idea had demanded IUC to go up to 30-40 paise per minute from 14 paise per minute but a newcomer like Reliance Jio has opposed the idea and asked the IUC charge to be brought to zero.Disclaimer: Reliance Industries Ltd. is the sole beneficiary of Independent Media Trust which controls Network18 Media & Investments Ltd.