The ongoing spat between Reliance Jio Infocomm Limited (RJIL) and the telecom industry association Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) worsened today, as COAI demanded apology from Reliance Jio..
First, RJIL took offence to a press release issued by COAI on TRAI's and the Telecom Tariff Authority's (TTA) recent changes in reducing mobile termination charges and international termination charges.
In its press release on Feb 20, COAI had contented that the reduction in these charges would not benefit consumers greatly and would cause further distress to the debt-burdened telecom sector.
The press release had also noted that other than one dissenting member of COAI, all others unanimously supported the position taken by the industry body on this issue.
A number of telecom companies have also initiated legal proceedings against the TRAI decision in separate high courts.
However, following the COAI press release RJIL sent two notices to the body and to Rajen Mathews, secretary general of COAI, who had issued the press release.
In a reply to Kapoor Singh Guliani, president - regulatory, RJIL, by COAI dated Feb 28, the body has retorted by saying that it reserves the right to initiate legal proceedings against RJIL. That is if RJIL seeks to pursue any 'fabricated' defamatory case in court, alleging bias against it by the industry body.
Reliance Jio, the new entrant, had earlier stated during consultations on the issue with the telecom regulator, that it supports lowering of termination charges, a source of income among the existing players.
"It is not surprising to note that RJIL has sought to justify and provide rationale for the changes made by the TRAI in the TTO where the TRAI has not provided sufficient reasoning," the COAI letter said in response to Reliance JIO's allegation that the COAI position favoured Vodafone, Airtel and Idea.
Other than terming the COAI press release defamatory and malicious Reliance Jio had also alleged that the press release was 'brash, bold and unreasoned'.
In its missive, COAI has advised Reliance Jio to withdraw its notices and issue a public apology for allegations made by it.
A response to COAI's letter is yet awaited. What remains to be seen now is if this spat pitches Reliance Jio, the new cash rich entrant against the rather cash stripped existing telecom companies.
The telecom industry in India is estimated to carry a debt burden of Rs 70,000 crore, an increase in which is primarily due to higher spectrum prices they paid to government in recent auctions.