From today, all voice calls from Jio to be free
Reliance Jio on Thursday (December 31) announced that domestic voice calls to other networks will be free, from January 1, 2021
Voice calls to other networks from Reliance Jio will be free from Friday (January 1) and  there will be no charging for off-net domestic calls.
The decision came after Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI)’s ‘Bill and Keep’ regime, which will be implemented from January 1, in which interconnect usage charges (IUC) for all domestic voice calls will be stopped.
Also read: Mobile users consumed 54,917 million GB data till Sept: Trai
This decision by Jio is being seen as competition to other service providers such as Vi and Airtel as it will be able to offer more competitive recharge plans.
Jio claimed that it paid more than ₹13,000 crore to other operators in the last three years towards IUC. For the other service providers, however, IUC was their main source of income.
Also read: Jio adds 85.39 lakh users in July; Airtel, Idea lose 60 lakh users combined
Jio earlier began charging six-paise per minute for outgoing calls to other mobile networks in October 2019, a move that was criticised, following TRAI’s extension in 2019 of the timeline for implementing the ‘Bill and Keep’ regime to beyond January 1, 2020.
