The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India on Wednesday sought Attorney General Mukul Rohatgi’s opinion on the free voice and data tariff plans that are part of Reliance Jio’s offers till March 31, PTI reported. On December 2, Jio had announced its “Happy New Year” offer for both existing and new customers, a day before the earlier “Welcome Offer” was supposed to end.
Last month, the telecom regulator had asked the Mukesh Ambani-led company to explain why extension of its offers were not “predatory”, as alleged by other service providers. In its response to Trai, Jio said the New Year offer was substantially different from the inaugural plan because the free data provided had a 1 GB cap as compared to the 4GB offered earlier. On December 2, Trai had said it would examine Reliance Jio’s extension of the free services.
On October 1, Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular had sought a clarification from the regulatory body on whether Jio had flouted norms by offering free voice calls for life. Trai had then said Jio’s tariff plans were not predatory or discriminatory, but it had also asked the Reliance company to end the benefits being offered to new subscribers by December 3.
Jio has been at odds with its competitors since its commercial launch in September. The company has complained that its competitors have not been providing the required interconnection points, which it said had led to a large number of call drops. Jio had drawn criticism soon after its launch for recording an alarming number of call drops.
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