Reliance Jio vs Telecom Industry: Reliance Jio labelled back door operator

There is absolutely no end in sight to the Reliance Jio Vs Telecom Industry battle, in fact it is getting uglier by the day. After a massive slugfest with the top three operators of the country Airtel, Vodafone and Idea, Mukesh Ambani led Relinace Jio is now up against the Telecom Industry body COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) once again.

COAI on Sunday alleged that the Reliance Jio's letter seeking association's governance overhaul is “slanderous” as well as “mischievous” as it suggested that the incumbent operators are blocking Reliance Jio’s entry. This was in a response to a letter sent by Reliance Jio where it accused COAI, of which Jio is also a member, of serving "vested interests" of incumbent operators and demanded an overhaul of voting rules. Countering Jio strong accusations, COAI said, “Despite repeated and grave provocations from Reliance Jio, COAI wishes to state that Reliance Jio which entered the sector as a back¬door operator was welcomed by COAI as a full member”, COAI director general Rajan S Mathews in a statement said. “Reliance Jio was never an applicant for a UASL or UL license but bought a BWA through a front entity and then had it converted to a full blown UASL license despite strong objection from certain quarters including the CAG”, the group strongly added.

Reliance Jio had acquired pan ¬India BWA (Broadband Wireless Access) spectrum in 2010. But the company only launched its commercial services on 5th September this year. Ever since it’s trial testing period Jio was involved in a massive war of words with incumbent operators, especially with market leader Airtel. And now Jio is up against COAI, calling for a rehaul of the establishment, criticising the voting norms which are based on gross revenue of member companies, Jio said, "The IDOs (incumbent dominant operators) having a 60.84 per cent market share based on revenues enjoy a dominant position in the market and command seven votes each, totaling to 21 votes. Apart from the IDOs, there are four more core members having a combined total of 10 votes shared amongst them. The IDOs command 68 per cent of the total votes."

COAI believes its governance policies, and practices are completely democratic as proportional voting, it said, is an established pattern of democratic voting. "None of the half a dozen new operators who have entered in the last five years have ever accused the COAI or in fact labelled the leading operators as IDOs.” the cellular operators' body said in a statement.