Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) has added new allegations to the acrimonious dispute between the newcomer and its entrenched rivals, following accusations from the incumbents that Jio was infringing regulations with its latest batch of offerings. The Economic Times writes that Jio has fired back at Bharti Airtel, Vodafone India and Idea Cellular, claiming that the trio were engaged in ‘unfair and deceptive’ practices to retain customers. According to Jio, the trio were offering discounts and bonuses to sway users that wished to port out of their network, with the cellco adding that such customised mobile number portability (MNP) plans are ‘in gross violation of extant telecom laws, including Telecom Tariff Order, 1999.’ Further, the company claimed that the call centres of the incumbent trio were providing false information to customers regarding Jio’s network coverage and service quality. As such, Jio demanded that sector watchdog the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) ‘take cognisance of the vilification and defamation campaign underway against [Jio].’
Replying to queries from the Economic Times, a spokesperson for Bharti Airtel denied the allegations, whilst Vodafone stated that its actions are ‘in accordance with applicable norms, regulations and industry best practices.’ Idea Cellular did not reply.