Idea and Airtel get cross

Idea Cellular is currently the second top loser on the BSE, down over 3% at Rs.80.45; Bharti Airtel had slipped over 6% at Rs.370 but since then seems to have recovered.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) yesterday announced cut in interconnect usage charges (IUC) by 57%. TRAI cut the IUC from 14 paise to 6 paise to bring down the voice call rates.

IUC means, suppose you are an Idea user and you make a call to an Airtel phone, then Idea will have to pay a fee for every such call to any operator other than Idea.

Following this, almost all analysts and FIIs have put out reports stating that Reliance Jio is the biggest beneficiary of this IUC cut.