Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd has filed an application in Telecommunications Dispute Settlement and Appellate Tribunal ( TDSAT) seeking to become a party in the matter of Vodafone Idea Ltd versus Telecom regulatory Authority of India ( TRAI). The matter pertains to denial of faster internet speed to Vodafone Idea’s premium postpaid customers by the telecom regulator. According to Jio’s application, which was reviewed by Mint, the company has contended that it will be impacted by the outcome of the case and wants to be impleaded in the ongoing proceedings. The development has added another dimension to the ongoing tussle between Jio against Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel over market share in the domestic telecom market, which has seen bitter tariff war between the two sides since Jio’s launch in 2016.
On Sunday Trai has ordered Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel Ltd to put on hold their premium plans offering faster data and priority services, citing violation of service norms and the possibility of lower data speeds for those who have not opted for such schemes. Vodafone Idea moved the TDSAT on Monday challenging the Trai order. The TDSAT on Tuesday refused to stay Trai’s order, therefore denying an interim relief to Vodafone Idea . “TDSAT has asked Trai to file an affidavit in response to Vodafone Idea’s appeal. While TDSAT has not admitted Jio’s application but will take it up on 16 July,” said a person aware of the matter on condition of anonymity.
It has now emerged the Trai’s order barring both Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel from offering differentiated products in 4G postpaid plans was passed based on a complaint filed by Jio on 8 July, which alleged that Vodafone Idea’s RedX plan was discriminatory and misleading in nature. In its complaint to Trai, Jio said the said tariff plan is discriminatory in nature, which occasioned deterioration of the quality of service for one class of customers by providing priority to others and was premised on false and misleading claims being made to customers.
Reliance Jio did not respond to an e-mail query until the time of running this story. Jio said Vodafone Idea’s claims to offer better data speeds and priority access “were erroneous” as an operator cannot guarantee minimum speed on a wireless network and any method to provide priority access to some customers would “inevitably deteriorate the service quality available to other customers availing the same services”.
