Supreme Court rejects CCI appeal to probe Bharti Airtel, Vodafone-Idea

The Supreme Court on Wednesday rejected Competition Commission of India’s (CCI) plea to probe Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular for allegations related to cartelisation.

The CCI had moved the top court in January this year after the Bombay High Court quashed the investigation ordered by the fair trade regulator into charges of cartelisation against the three telecom companies.

The probe against the three telecom companies was ordered by CCI after the then new entrant Reliance Jio Infocomm had complained that the three incumbent telecom companies had formed a cartel and were not providing it enough Points of Interconnection (PoI).

The Bombay High Court had in September 2017 set aside CCI order and said that the fair trade regulator had “no jurisdiction” to interpret contract conditions or policies of the telecom companies, which came under the ambit of Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai).