Reliance Jio terms COAI’s ‘backdoor’ entry comment defamatory, demands apology, warns legal action 

It seems like there is still a long time before the telecom industry is back to normalcy. With the entry of Mukesh Ambani’s Reliance Jio, the industry has been in a never ending slugfest that lead to the telecom industry body COAI calling Reliance Jio, a ‘backdoor’ operator. Jio now says, “The allegations of Sh. Rajan S. Mathews in the press statement to the effect that RJIL entered the sector as a “Back Door Operator” are on the face of it defamatory and borders on contempt of the orders of the Hon’ble Supreme Court.”, company said in statement. Jio has also demanded an apology from COAI, “RJIL has already put Sh. Rajan S. Mathews on notice demanding apology for issuing the press statement... and should they not act upon it, RJIL will pursue legal recourse with full vigour” company added in the statement.

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Not an apology but COAI issued statement saying the allegations lacked merit and are intended to bring disrepute to the association, yet again urging Jio to use platforms within association to resolve issues, “COAI is disappointed that Reliance Jio, who is our member has taken internal association matters which can very well be settled within the association into a public forum. We categorically dismiss the allegations and claims of RIL Jio and will be in communication with them to resolve the matter. We reiterate that appropriate forums exist within the association for discussing these matters and they remain available to RIL Jio, who is a member.” COAI said in a statement.

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However, this has been an ongoing fight between Reliance Jio and COAI, Reliance Jio had also accused the telecom industry body COAI for siding with the three top incumbent players Airtel, Vodafone and Idea and had also asked for an overhaul of voting rules of COAI. COAI had called Jio’s allegation “slanderous” as well as “mischievous” as it also suggested that the incumbent operators are blocking Reliance Jio’s entry.