Trai extends date for submission on comments on IUC to December 22

NEW DELHI: Telecom regulator Trai has extended the last date to December 22 for receiving comments on interconnect charges which one operator pays to other for using its network to complete calls.

Earlier, while releasing the consultation paper on Interconnect Usage Charges' ( IUC), Trai had asked the stakeholders to send their comments by December 11 and counter-comments by December 18.

"On the request of some service providers, the Authority has decided to extend the date for submission of written comments and counter-comments till December 22 and December 29, 2014 respectively," Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) said.

Trai had specified the IUC in 2003 and subsequently the charges have been revised in 2006 and 2009.

The prevailing IUC regime was notified in 2009. At present, termination charge for all local and national long-distance mobile calls is 20 paise per minute, which means a telecom company pays 20 paise per minute to other company on whose network call ends.

The termination charge for incoming international long distance calls is 40 paise per minute.