COAI says fight with Trai, not with Reliance Jio

Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), which represents all major telcos, said its differences were with telecom regulator’s tariff orders and not against any specific operator. The industry body, responded to defamation notice sent by Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio), stating that it did its duty by raising concerns when interests of industry were not handled appropriately.

“Our differences are with the Orders of the Regulator and not with any specific Operator. Our intention is not to aggreive any particular Operator,” said Rajan Mathews, director general of COAI.

Jio on Friday, issued a defamation notice to COAI and its director general Rajan Mathews, demanding a public apology for saying that the telecom regulator favoured Mukesh Ambani-led operator in its tariff-related policies.

In its notice, Jio said it is within its rights to take COAI and the three top incumbents to court seeking damages.

Mathews on Saturday said that individual telcos are free to pursue the interests of their own company vigorously under the framework of the laws of the land.

“However, the Regulator’s role is to ensure the competing claims of companies are appropriately handled in the interest of the entire industry. This is the mandate of the TRAI Act, which specifically tasks it with ensuring the orderly growth of the Industry. When we perceive this to not be the case, we raise our concerns, as any relevant Industry association should, for the growth & development of the sector and in the interest of the nation”, said the director general in his statement.

Earlier this week, COAI had accused the telecom regulator of issuing a series of regulations over the past 12-18 months, including the latest order on predatory pricing, that allegedly favour Jio, which started services in September 2016.

The notice termed the COAI’s comments as “reckless, willful and flagrant act of making slanderous and libelous accusations” against Jio.

The latest entrant in the telecom industry demanded that the operators’ association “immediately cease and desist from publishing false and defamatory imputations” against Jio.

Jio alleged that COAI used to be the “official voice of the Indian telecom industry” but has now been reduced “to becoming an instrument and mouthpiece of Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea (including Telenor, now controlled by Bharti Airtel)”.

“We’d also like to put on reccord that, all our other member operators are unanimous in their support of our position, with absolutely no exceptions, ‘ added Mathews in his statement.