3 ways Reliance Jio customers can avoid paying 6 paisa per minute IUC

As per the existing norms, telecom companies have to pay 6 paisa per minute to other telecom companies when a subscriber makes a call to the other network.

Relaince Jio users have to pay 6 paisa per minute for calls made to other networks beyond their FUP limit. (Bloomberg)

Reliance Jio, last year, started charging 6 paisa per minute to its subscribers for making calls to another network beyond their FUP limits. Reports, late last year suggested that the IUC paid by the Jio subscribers could go down to zero when the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) would adopt the zero-IUC policy.

However, the regulatory body retained the IUC for another year. This means that telecom companies will have to continue paying the IUC for calls made from their network to other networks. Since Reliance Jio charges this amount from its subscriber, Jio users will continue paying these charges for another year or till the time TRAI doesn't adopt a new policy.

For your understanding, telecom companies have to pay 6 paisa per minute to other telecom companies when a subscriber makes a call to other networks. Until October last year, this cost was paid by telecom companies. But things changed when Reliance Jio became the biggest telecom operator in the country and more calls started being placed from its network to other networks. This led the company to pay a higher amount to other telecom companies than it was receiving. Jio countered this by trickling down the additional charge to its subscribers.

If you are using Reliance Jio, here's how you can avoid paying additional IUC charges:

-- One workaround is that Jio users can switch to making Wi-Fi calls instead of making calls on the network. However, to use this feature, Jio users will have to ensure that they are using a smartphone that supports this feature. The good news is that the Jio Wi-Fi calling feature is available across India on a total of 150 smartphones from brands like Apple, Coolpad, Google, Infinix, itel, Lava, Mobiistar, Motorola, Samsung, Techno, Vivo and Xiaomi.

-- The other way is to use third-party apps such as WhatsApp, Facebook Messenger and Google Duo. These apps essentially make use of your phone's mobile data and hence don't depend on your network's calling feature. However, you will have to ensure that your friend or the person whom you are calling is also using the same app.

-- Lastly, you can use a higher value pack that not only gives you more data but also a bigger FUP based on your usage. For instance Jio's ₹555 plan, which is valid for 84 days (roughly three months) gives 1.5GB data per day with a 3,000 minutes FUP limit (50 hours approximately). This selection of data plans, however, will depend on your existing plan and your usage.