The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) has summoned a meeting of the country’s biggest network operators like Airtel and Vodafone as well as the just-launched Reliance Jio. Apart from the issue of points of interconnections (PoI), the body will discuss the problems between the established businesses and the new entrant which has led to a major price war in the segment.
Reliance Jio’s entry into the telecom sector has given rise to a major conflict caused due to the existing companies’ refusal to allow adequate PoIs for the new player. PoIs are where calls connect between two carriers, currently chargeable under Interconnection Usage Charges (IUC). The corporation had accused the dominant operators of delaying its proper commercial launch.
The war between the cellular companies heated up further when TRAI proposed the complete dismissal of the PoI concept. Existing service providers contested the idea as IUC forms a major part of telecom revenue. They also blamed the regulatory association of being biased towards the latest entrant in the field.
Jio’s services went live a few days ago, but users have been complaining about the fact that they cannot dial up numbers belonging to other networks. The brand claims that this is due to lack of a strong number of PoIs for its functions. The authority is forced to intervene now that the argument has made its way to the PMO.
The meeting between TRAI and the network owners is expected to resolve the problems present between Reliance Jio and the other companies. The authority might call for a fair division of PoI and better revenue sharing rules for the segment. It is also likely to discuss complete removal of IUC charges with the service providers.