Telecom regulator Trai on Friday fixed phone call ring time at 30 seconds for mobiles and 60 seconds for landline phones in case the call is neither answered nor rejected by a subscriber.
The new rules will come into effect after 15 days.
“The time duration of alert for an incoming voice call, which is neither answered nor rejected by the called party, shall be 30 seconds for cellular mobile telephone service and 60 seconds for basic telephone service,” Trai said in an amendment to the quality of service norms for basic and mobile telephone services.
UN body International Telecommunication Union has specifications for international calls or circuits in the range of 1.5 minutes to 3 minutes but there is no prescribed limit for the timer for domestic calls. The present duration of call alert varies from 30 seconds to 45 seconds in the case of mobile networks, except one operator who has set an “alert duration” at 25 seconds. In the case of basic telephone networks, it varies from 60 seconds to 120 seconds.
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 the “severest penalty” on them for violating regulations and licensing norms.
Bharti Airtel has hit back, saying Jio is trying to misguide the regulator ahead of the consultation on call connect charges (also called interconnect usage charges).
Telecom operators on their own were reducing incoming call ring time to attract reverse call from subscribers of other networks.
IUC relief plea
A telecom consumers’ body has sought the removal of a 6 paise interconnection usage charge (IUC) from January 1 next year as it deprives the weaker sections of the society to avail themselves of new age services and better experience.
Trai had proposed to move from the current IUC regime to the BAK (bill and keep) regime where no operator will charge for mobile call transmission from January 1, 2020.
However, Trai recently floated a consultation paper on whether there was a need to defer the date of removing the mobile call termination charge.
The Telecom User Group (TUG) in it submission to Trai has requested a shift to the BAK regime from January 1.