Giving a fresh twist to the ongoing tussle over interconnect usage charges (IUC), Idea Cellular Ltd on Thursday wrote to the telecom regulator asking it to evaluate IUC by bifurcating the calls terminating on VoLTE networks (where Jio has a huge presence) and those terminating on time division multiplier (TDM) networks using 2G, 3G or 4G technology (which the rest of the industry follows).

Then, based on cost data and weightage between the two, an IUC can be arrived either using fully-allocated cost or long-range incremental cost. This weightage can be reviewed every 12 months for high frequency, taking the previous months traffic data as the basis. The respective costs of VoLTE and TDM can make do with a lower frequency of review, say, once in 36 months, Idea said.

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The other solution to the problem that Idea offered was to allow each operator to segregate the minutes ending on their network between VoLTE and TDM calls. The regulator can then separately determine IUCs for both.

“Both solutions overcome legal infirmities, meet the requirements of fairness and comprehensively reflect the market dynamism the consultation process is seeking to address. Yet Solution-1 (to evaluate IUC by bifurcating the calls terminating on VoLTE and rest) has the advantage of simplicity and ease of administration. So, Solution-1 is preferable for the next three to four years,” Himanshu Kapania, managing director, Idea Cellular Ltd, said in a letter to R.S. Sharma, chairman, Telecom regulatory Authority of India. A copy of the letter has been reviewed by Mint.

According to Kapania, TDM-based networks using 2G, 3G, 4G technology are currently terminating over 95% of voice traffic; and the newer VoLTE-based 4G network, currently ends less than 5% of voice traffic.