A new chapter has been added to never-ending tussle between Airtel and Reliance Jio. Jio’s free plans have caused havoc to Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular’s businesses.
And now, according to reports, Bharti Airtel has sent a complaint to the Competition Commission of India or CCI, terming Jio’s free internet and calling plan predatory.
It also said they harmed the competitive spirit of the Indian telecom sector. Interestingly, Jio had also reached out to CCI in 2016 to complain against some telecom operators.
In a letter sent earlier this month, Airtel stated that Reliance Jio's "predatory free pricing strategy" is meant to injure the competition.
It is a strategic business tactic adopted to enhance market power with the objective of eliminating competition, in which it has succeeded to a large extent during the quarter October to December 2016 itself.Airtel’s letter to CCI
Accusing Reliance Jio of trying to monopolise the telecom market, Airtel said that the so-called free voice calling plans will be made payable in the near future.
The CCI has now asked its investigation team to look into the matter and come up with a solution in the coming weeks.
The tit-for-tat battle between Reliance Jio and other telcos reached a tipping point recently. Trai had recommended a penalty of Rs 3,050 crore on Airtel, Vodafone and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to Reliance Jio.
To this, Airtel had said that Jio should look to improve network support at its end.
The Q3 2016 numbers of Airtel and Vodafone show us the Jio impact, and things are expected to worsen in Q4 2016.
(Source: Livemint)
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