Reliance Jio has moved the Competition Commission of India citing cartel-like behaviour from India’s three biggest telecom operators – Bharti Airtel, Idea Cellular and Vodafone. The complaint filed by Jio accused the three companies of abusing their market positions to deny the Mukesh Ambani-owned network enough points-of-interconnection for its customers, The Financial Express reported.
A CCI official said the complaint would be handed to its director-general of investigation. The body will discuss and pass a ruling on the dispute if the investigation finds any evidence to support Jio’s claims, the official said. Jio did not issue a statement on the complaint.
Meanwhile, the network also claimed to have signed up 50 million subscribers for its services since its commercial launch on September 5, Mint reported. A company executive said the figure meant an average of 600,000 people every day had subscribed to the network since its launch. The network also claimed to have surpassed Bharti Airtel’s entire subscriber base for 3G and 4G users.
Soon after its September 1 launch, Reliance Jio had started claiming that its rival telecom companies had not provided the required interconnections, causing a large number of call drops. The Mukesh Ambani-led company claimed that the other telecom firms were engaging in an “unlawful and illegal delay” on providing the points of connection. The company also did not attend a meeting of the Cellular Operators Association of India on November 11 because of its opposition to the body’s current voting norms.
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