Reliance Jio is yet to be launched, but is already breaking rules

India’s top telecom operators have targeted Reliance Jio Infocomm, the upcoming telecom leg from Reliance Industries Limited. The operators have asked the telecom department (DoT) to ask RIL to take back the Jio connections that it has provided to 1.5 million users under the name of test connections, since it is breaking the law by offering full-fledged services to them before its launch.

In a letter written to Telecom Secretary JS Deepak, telecom lobby group Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) said that as per present licence conditions, testing or trials of free voice and data services is not allowed for such large numbers, and Jio was instead offering full fledged services to its users.

"This is no test. This is the provisioning of full-blown and full-fledged services masquerading as tests, which bypass regulations and can potentially game policy features like the IUC (interconnection usage charge) regime, non-predatory pricing, fair competition etc," said the letter written by Rajan Mathews, director general of COAI, of which Jio is also a member along with Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.

RIL is expected to launch Jio's commercial services this month, and it has officially said that its free voice and data services will be upgraded into full-blown commercial services soon.

Consumers buying Reliance LYF phones and 14 Samsung phones are being offered three months of free unlimited data and voice calls from Jio.

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