Trai cuts interconnect charges to 6 paise a minute from Oct 1; Jio gains, incumbents lose IUC is a fee that a mobile service provider pays another to link a call to the latter's network. India’s telecom regulator more than halved the interconnect usage charge (IUC) from October 1 and said the fee will be scrapped from 2020, in a move that it said would benefit consumers. The decision saw the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) coming down on the side of new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm, while rejecting the arguments made by older telcos Bharti Airtel , Vodafone India and Idea Cellular. IUC has been reduced to 6 paise a minute from 14 paise a minute and to zero starting January 1, 2020, based on the view that costs incurred by operators will drop. India’s incumbent top telcos said they will go to court against the step. IUC is paid by the mobile operator on whose network the call originates to the network where it terminates...