Telecom operators have stepped up their push for a sharp increase in international incoming call termination charges, stating that the current regime is out of sync with global benchmarks and is increasingly being misused for fraud and spam. The industry has sought a revision of the international termination charge (ITC) to Rs 4–5 per minute from the existing Rs 0.65, citing concerns around consumer safety, revenue leakage and an uneven cost structure.
The ITC is the fee paid by overseas carriers to Indian telecom operators for terminating international calls on domestic networks. While it is meant to ensure reciprocity in cross-border telecom traffic, operators say the present level has become untenable. Telcos receive Rs 0.65 per minute for incoming calls, even as they pay foreign carriers an average of Rs 3–3.50 per minute for outgoing international calls.
FY25 incoming calls 15.5 times outgoing
Case in point – In FY25, the volume of outgoing calls was 0.72 billion minutes, according to data produced by the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) in a consultation paper in November 2025. In the same period, the total incoming call volume to India amounted to 11.17 billion minutes, 15.5 times that of the outgoing traffic. However, taking the current incoming and outgoing rates in place, the Indian telcos paid Rs 252 crore to foreign telcos for outgoing calls, and earned Rs 723 crore from incoming calls, just about three times the outgo.
According to industry executives, the low termination charge has unintentionally created an incentive for overseas entities to route large volumes of fraudulent traffic into India. The cost of terminating such calls is so low that it has become economically viable for scammers to push phishing calls, robo-calls and other forms of telecom fraud into Indian networks at scale.
“Operators have invested heavily in compliance with anti-spam regulations, including distributed ledger technology, real-time consent systems and advanced traffic filtering. But these measures are undermined when international traffic can enter the country at negligible cost,” said an executive with a leading telecom operator. Raising the ITC, the executive added, would increase the cost of misuse and act as a deterrent for high-volume malicious traffic originating from overseas.
Global rate hike cited as precedent
The industry has also pointed to global precedents to support its case. Several countries, including the UK, China, Nigeria, Turkey and Sudan, have raised their international termination charges over the past few years. India, however, has kept its rates unchanged, creating a pricing anomaly that allows international aggregators to route calls into the country at artificially low rates and earn outsized margins.
Beyond security concerns, the imbalance has direct financial implications for telecom companies. Outgoing international call charges are denominated in dollars, exposing operators to currency risk. As the rupee depreciates, the cost burden rises even if outbound call volumes remain stable. “This creates a structurally disadvantageous position for Indian networks, which carry large volumes of traffic and maintain extensive infrastructure,” an executive said.
The industry has also flagged the revenue implications for the government. International termination charges form part of the adjusted gross revenue on which licence fees are calculated. A higher ITC would therefore translate into higher collections for the exchequer.
Crucially, operators say that an increase in ITC would not impact domestic consumers, as the charge is borne by foreign carriers. “There is no pass-through to Indian users. From a consumer standpoint, there is no downside to correcting the rate,” an executive said.