TRAI Fined Rs 3,000 Crore On Airtel, Vodafone & Idea Over Spat With RJio
Cellular for not providing adequate interconnect points to Reliance Jio. The regulator said the three incumbents were guilty of anti-consumer behaviour, in violation of mobile licence terms and conditions.
Trai has recommended a penalty of Rs 1,050 crore each on Airtel and Vodafone (Rs 50 crore each in 21 circles), it has sought a penalty of Rs 950 crore on Idea Cellular (Rs 50cr each in 19 circles).
Trai said the mobile firms acted with the "ulterior motive to stifle competition" which resulted in a massive depletion in quality of services on Jio's network, causing huge inconvenience to its subscribers who failed to connect calls. A spokesperson for Bharti Airtel said the company was in "full compliance" to the "grade of service" set by Trai. However, Airtel did not make any comment on the penalty . "We are continuously augmenting the points of interconnect provided to Jio and the pace of augmentation has been the fastest ever done by us. Further, we are in full compliance of the requirements of Grade of Service set by Trai," the Airtel spokesperson said. The regulator had earlier issued a showcause no tice to the three telecom operators after Jio blamed them for the massive call failures on its network. It was scathing in its finding on the violation and said that the action of the incumbents "warrants recommendations for the revocation of the licence".
"However, the Authority is mindful of the fact that revocation of licence will entail significant consumer inconvenience and therefore in view of the larger public interest involved, the Authority recommends penal action," Trai said in the recommendation issued late in the evening.
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