Reliance Jio stops free voice calls; the user will need to buy top-up vouchers to call non-Jio mobiles

Beginning today, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio will charge an interconnect fees from Jio mobile phone users for calls made to non-Jio mobile phones, the company said in a statement

Reliance Jio has ended free outgoing voice calls for its prepaid and postpaid mobile phone users. Beginning today, Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio will charge an interconnect fees from Jio mobile phone users for calls made to non-Jio mobile phones, the company said in a statement. All incoming calls to Jio mobiles, all outgoing calls from Jio to Jio mobiles, and all outgoing calls from Jio mobiles to landline phones continue to be free of charge, it said. Reliance Jio has taken this step in order to recover the interconnect usage charge that the company pays to the other operator for every outgoing mobile phone call. The company had to bear the Rs 13,500 crore payment made to rivals such as Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea since voice calls on its network are free, Jio said.

Jio mobile customers will now need to pay a charge of 6 paise per minute on outgoing off-net mobile calls, but only till the time telecom regulator TRAI shifts to zero termination charge regime, Reliance Jio said. So far, Jio provided its subscribers free mobile voice calls to other operators. So far, Jio customers bought and paid for monthly or longer duration data bundle packs, with free voice calls. IUC is the cost that is paid by one mobile telecom operator to the another when its susbcriber makes outgoing mobile calls to the customer of the other operator.  

 But airtal 

Airtel also adds that Unlimited calling should mean unlimited calling, with no fine print or hidden costs. Vodafone India too has reiterated its commitment to continue free calls to all service operators. “Relax, there will be no charges on Vodafone calls to other networks. So keep enjoying what we promised you – truly free calls on Vodafone unlimited plans,” says Vodafone.

Reliance Jio recently announced that it would charge 6 paise/minute to its customers for outgoing calls to other network operators to recover the Interconnect Usage Charge (IUC) much to users’ dismay. Upset with Reliance Jio’s decision several users reminded the service operator of its promise to provide free voice calls and even threatened to boycott Jio.

Reliance Jio as of now says that consumers who have recharged their SIM on or before 9 October 2019 can continue enjoying free call benefits to even non-Jio customers until their plan expires. However, other users will be required to take an IUC top-up voucher henceforth.   

share and support