Reliance Jio Complains to TRAI Against Airtel, Vodafone, Idea; Recommends 'Highest Penalty'

Reliance Jio has complained to telecom regulator TRAI against rivals Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular over what it calls unfair and deceptive methods being used by them to retain customers willing to port out of their networks. In a letter, Reliance Jio has asked that the "strongest action" should be taken against the three incumbents, and suggested that the "highest penalty" should be levied against them for what it deems to be gross violation of licence norms, telecom tariff orders, and mobile number portability (MNP) guidelines.

The country's youngest telecom operator in a letter dated April 10 said that the three telecom operators are coming up with prepaid recharges, postpaid plans, discounts in value of special tariff vouchers, and postpaid bill amounts to make sure customers do not port to Reliance Jio network.

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Jio claimed that these offers are being presented to subscribers "surreptitiously" on one-to-one basis, and that the same offers are not available to general public. Nor are the companies openly publicising such offers on their website as stipulated, it said.

"At the outset, we submit that so far as these MNP offers are concerned, these are in gross violation of extant telecom laws including Telecom Tariff Order, 1999," Jio has said in the five page letter to TRAI.

Responding to the allegations, a Vodafone spokesperson said that as its customer needs are diverse, the company offers them "exciting and engaging propositions catering to their myriad requirements, in accordance with applicable norms, regulations and industry best practices".

"Vodafone's commitment to its hundreds of million customers is to always provide super value and experience across product, service and network," the spokesperson added.

A Bharti Airtel spokesperson too dismissed the allegations saying the company is in full compliance of all regulatory guidelines including tariff orders and MNP regulations. "We categorically deny these allegations," the spokesperson added.

E-mails sent to Idea Cellular did not elicit any response. Jio alleged that the call centres of these operators are providing "false and malicious" information to subscribers regarding the service quality and network coverage of the new operator.

"The call centre recordings reveal a vicious campaign underway to defame and vilify the services being offered by Reliance Jio," it alleged.

Jio has said that such practices are in violation of tariff reporting requirements of TRAI and breach the limit of 25 plans (prepaid and postpaid) allowed as per regulations to operators.

It also claimed that such customised MNP plans are in violation of the tariff order as the subscriber selection criteria is not disclosed by the telcos.

Jio has urged TRAI to "take cognizance of the vilification and defamation campaign underway against RJIL" by the operators, and direct them to "cease and desist" from such acts.

Written with PTI inputs