Mobile call ring-time row: Trai to finalise views in 2 weeks

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai will finalise, in next two weeks, its views on call ring time - a contentious issue on which old and new operators have locked horns.

On the controversial issue of Jio's latest allegations that rival telcos are fraudulently masking fixed-line as mobile calls for undue enrichment and should be slapped with penalty, a senior Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) official said the matter will be examined just as all complaints to the authority are. “Any complaint that generally comes to us will be examined... If there is any violation, we will look into the matter...” the official said.

Reliance Jio has accused old operators including Bharti Airtel and Vodafone Idea of “illegally” masquerading wireline numbers as mobile numbers for “undue enrichment” and has exhorted Trai to slap “severest penalty” on them for violating regulations and licensing norms.

After the fresh set of allegations surfaced, Bharti Airtel immediately hit back saying Jio was trying to misguide the regulator ahead of the crucial consultation on call connect charges (also called IUC or interconnect usage charges).

Meanwhile, at the open house discussions on the issue of call ring-time on Thursday, a senior Jio official urged the telecom regulator to keep the matter under forbearance.

Jio has maintained that if at all Trai wants to take a view on the issue, it should be in form of a reference guidelines and not in form of a mandated value.

“In such a case, the range of 20 seconds to 25 seconds may be prescribed as reference guideline,” Jio has informed Trai, which is in the process of finalising its views on the issue through a consultation paper.