Vodafone Idea opposes Jio’s pitch to shutdown 2G

Vodafone Idea has opposed Reliance Jio’s pitch to shut down 2G services in the country through a regulatory mandate. It said, any forceful shutdown of 2G will move low income and marginal consumers away from accessing basic telecom services, thereby increasing the digital divide.

“There is a larger public interest which is being fulfilled through continuation of such older technologies. Any decision to shut down older technologies must be taken after keeping in mind the interest of consumers, as is being done in case of 3G,” Anjali Hans, senior vice president – regulatory & corporate affairs, said in her counter comments to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) on the consultation paper on digital transformation through 5G ecosystem.