Reliance Jio asked for more connectivity support from Airtel, and after a lot of deliberation they agreed. But that isn’t the end of the quibble between the two telecom operators.
Airtel has questioned whether Jio has done enough at its end to offer high quality voice calling over VoLTE as they have claimed. Jio, for its part, has repeatedly laid the blame on Airtel for not adhering to its supposed ethical duty of offering sufficient PoIs to a telecom operator.
Clearly, this matter has escalated further over the past few days, and it’s no surprise that the telecom regulating body TRAI has decided it is time to intervene and take necessary action.
The Jio-Airtel situation is a classic case of a new entrant fighting tooth and nail to gain its place among the existing set of operators.
Airtel has been a mainstay in the telecom sector for over a decade but it seems they aren’t comfortable with the way Jio has been operating from day one. This suggests that Airtel feels the government has made things easier for the new entrant in the sector.
Jio has invested Rs 1,50,000 crore to buy pan India telecom spectrum and now owns a major chunk of it, even surpassing Airtel.
That’s not all, for the spectrum auction slated to happen early next month, Jio has allocated another Rs 6,500 crore to add to its spectrum capabilities.
The Classic Tussle Gone Awry
Airtel and Jio have been at the loggerheads, but things became heated earlier this month when both of them went on the offensive, blaming each other.
It is unfortunate that the Telecom Regulatory Authority’s intervention was required for Airtel to resume augmentation of points of interconnection, which it ought to have done by itself in compliance with its licence terms.Reliance Jio
Bharti Airtel categorically denies the rhetorical statements made by Reliance Jio with regard to the release of additional PoIs from Airtel to Jio and MNP requests. Following the bilateral discussions on September 13, 2016, Airtel agreed to release the additional PoIs to Jio on the same day itself and raised the demand notes on September 14, 2016.Airtel
Two reputed brands coming out in the open and talking about each other in strong words isn’t something that we get to see very often.
The blame-game has reached a point where either TRAI gets everything sorted, or else, both Airtel and Reliance Jio will fight it out until things go the way that either of them wants.
Jio’s claim that 52 crore calls were dropped across the network in 10 days is a big concern for TRAI, which is why they have requested all operators to give them details of point of connectivity numbers provided to Jio.
Telecom experts are of the opinion that there is nothing alarming about the battle that has ensued between Airtel and Jio.
This, according to them is the result of an existing player trying its best to limit the possible impact that Jio could have on the industry. Instead of calling it a David vs Goliath situation, it would be better to call it a Goliath vs Goliath story.
It will be interesting to see which of the two giants relents, or if the supporting cast has a role in diffusing this ticking bomb.
We’ve Seen this Before
This isn’t first time when a battle of this magnitude has hit the telecom sector. Vodafone, when it bought over Hutchison Cellular faced similar issues.
However, this time around, Jio is at par with Airtel in terms of strength, and seeing how the existing telecom players have conducted themselves in recent times, it is no wonder that the consumer is willing to take a chance on Jio, which promises to not only be cheaper than Airtel or Vodafone, but also provide them better experience.
Consumers Want Best for the Price
Call drops, network unavailability and lack of 4G coverage have been discomforting users for a while now, and if a new player like Jio promises to solve their problems, then people are bound to make mobile number portability (MNP) requests.
Right now, Jio’s harping on the basis of its free Welcome offer, which has already created a demand which is more than the supply.
What Jio can do when users start paying for its service will give us the true picture, and just like us, Airtel would been keeping a close eye when that happens.
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