Mukesh Ambani led-Reliance Jio wrote a letter on Monday addressing it to the regulator of TRAI asking it to take necessary action against Airtel for “mischievous and frivolous submissions made” that has been going on the ongoing contentious issue of interconnection usage charges (IUC).
The letter was in response to Bharti Airtel’s claim last week that it had suffered a heavy loss of ₹6,800 crore in the last five year on account of low IUC. A meeting is scheduled this week in TRAI to discuss the issue.
The letter further states that “All the contentions of Airtel are fallacious, not based on true facts and are misleading in nature.”
“The authority (TRAI) may take appropriate action against Airtel for such mischievous and frivolous submissions made will post the time allocated for additional submissions by the authority during the open house discussions,” it further stated.
‘Misrepresentation’is an issue
“Misrepresentation of facts and wrong interpretation of data has been carried out purposefully to create a smoke-screen to hide its ill-gotten profits and to support its false pretense of loss under existing IUC regime,” says Reliance Jio.
Reliance Jio has indeed claimed in the ensuing letter that the present value of the gross surplus recovery by Airtel stands at about ₹46,958 crore. The data related to IUC receipts are not disclosed by operators, so Reliance Jio explained that it had based on certain assumptions and disclosures made by Airtel as part of its financial results according to the letter.
Yet, as per Airtel view, even if Reliance Jio’s claims were assumed to be right, the present value of the surplus recovery will be only ₹7,443 crore.
Thus the battle between JIO and Bharti Airtel is intense and cannot be ignored. In the industry, it has much impact on the operations of both JIO and Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Airtel has moved the telecom dispute tribunal TDSAT against TRAI thus allowing Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio to continue its free promotional offer beyond the stipulated 90 days time period, charging the regulator of being a “mute spectator” to violations. In the 25-page petition before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), India’s largest private mobile based services operator asked the quasi-judicial body to give required instruction to TRAI to ensure that Jio does not start providing its free voice along with data plan beyond the time span of December 3.
Thus JIO and Bharti Airtel do prove that competitors do raise issues and objections and would like TRAI to settle issues. A dispute between the two needs to be resolved.
Jio has been quite a success with several mobile users and has gained momentum in sales since it was introduced. New features were added to it to make it more useful to the users. TRAI has to now resolve the issue between them amicably. Issues do crop up at times as business rivalry is a major factor in the industry. Competition is stiff and disputes are inevitable. It is but natural that Jio and Bharati Airtel are at logger had.
Jio wants TRAI to act against Bharti Airtel
Mukesh Ambani led-Reliance Jio wrote a letter on Monday addressing it to the regulator of TRAI asking it to take necessary action against Airtel for “mischievous and frivolous submissions made” that have been going on on an ongoing contentious issue of interconnection usage charges (IUC).
Also Read: JioPhone: What we don’t know, but need to
The letter was in response to Bharti Airtel’s claim last week that it had suffered a heavy loss of ₹6,800 crore in the last five year on account of low IUC. A meeting is scheduled this week in TRAI to discuss the issue.
The letter further states that “All the contentions of Airtel are fallacious, not based on true facts and are misleading in nature.”
“The authority (TRAI) may take appropriate action against Airtel for such mischievous and frivolous submissions made will post the time allocated for additional submissions by the authority during the open house discussions,” it further stated.
‘Misrepresentation’is an issue
“Misrepresentation of facts and wrong interpretation of data has been carried out purposefully to create a smoke-screen to hide its ill-gotten profits and to support its false pretense of loss under existing IUC regime,” says Reliance Jio.
Reliance Jio has indeed claimed in the ensuing letter that the present value of the gross surplus recovery by Airtel stands at about ₹46,958 crore. The data related to IUC receipts are not disclosed by operators, so Reliance Jio explained that it had based on certain assumptions and disclosures made by Airtel as part of its financial results according to the letter.
Yet, as per Airtel view, even if Reliance Jio’s claims were assumed to be right, the present value of the surplus recovery will be only ₹7,443 crore.
Thus the battle between JIO and Bharti Airtel is intense and cannot be ignored. In the industry, it has much impact on the operations of both JIO and Bharti Airtel.
Bharti Airtel has moved the telecom dispute tribunal TDSAT against TRAI thus allowing Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio to continue its free promotional offer beyond the stipulated 90 days time period, charging the regulator of being a “mute spectator” to violations. In the 25-page petition before the Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT), India’s largest private mobile based services operator asked the quasi-judicial body to give required instruction to TRAI to ensure that Jio does not start providing its free voice along with data plan beyond the time span of December 3.
Thus JIO and Bharti Airtel do prove that competitors do raise issues and objections and would like TRAI to settle issues. A dispute between the two needs to be resolved.
Jio has been quite a success with several mobile users and has gained momentum in sales since it was introduced. New features were added to it to make it more useful to the users. TRAI has to now resolve the issue between them amicably. Issues do crop up at times as business rivalry is a major factor in the industry. Competition is stiff and disputes are inevitable. It is but natural that Jio and Bharati Airtel are at logger had.
