Reliance Jio accuses Airtel of misleading ads, asks TRAI to impose heavy penalty

Reliance Jio Infocomm has been accused of many things since the telecom newcomer offered a bag full of deals and the competitors were threatened by it but this time Reliance Jio has asked telecom regulator TRAI to "impose highest penalty" on Airtel, as according to Reliance Jio, Airtel grossly exaggerated the value of data in a promotional offer, and gave misleading tariff ads.

In a letter, Jio has alleged Airtel that in so far as the advertisements issued by Airtel for pre-paid and post-paid tariff packs are concerned, the unlimited calls and free data being offered by Airtel is in "gross violation of extant telecommunication laws".

Things just didn’t end here, Jio has further charged Airtel of misrepresenting the benefits as free unlimited calls without indicating the applicability of Fair Usage Policy (FUP). It says that the free calls under Airtel's Special Tariff Voucher 345 were not really unlimited as Airtel has implemented a FUP of 300 minutes/day or 1,200 minutes/week, post which all calls are chargeable.

"Therefore, these prepaid packs do not provide unlimited free calling to customers. This fact is not discernable from the advertisements of Airtel and neither does Airtel specify in the advertisements that such limitations apply or are conceived as part of the terms and conditions," Jio claimed.

The company also claimed that FUP related information is provided only by call centre executives of Airtel and that too when the issue is specifically highlighted to them. According to Jio, this was violative and inconsistent with TRAI's instructions dated September 10, 2010.

On Airtel's advertisement of 'Free data for 12 months, worth Rs 9,000' on the prepaid STV of Rs 345, Jio alleged that the data benefits were available only on paying Rs 345 and therefore, could not be termed free.

"Further, post expiry of the data benefits in the pack, the subscriber is charged at pay-as-you-go rates, therefore, the free data claims are grossly misleading," it said.