Facebook-Reliance Jio deal to go to CCI, Trai may also step in

NEW DELHI | MUMBAI: The $5.7 bn Facebook-Reliance Jio deal needs to be scrutinised by the country’s competition watchdog, mainly from the point of view of data that the combined entity will control, top government officials and industry experts told ET.

The two companies are “data elephants” in terms of controlling private data of Indians, and together the combined reach of Reliance Jio, Facebook and its messaging app WhatsApp would provide undue advantage against rivals, be it other technology giants like Google and Amazon or even local startups, according to the people cited above.