Reliance Jio Happy New Year Offer: Idea Challenges TRAI Permission for Promo Extension.

  • Idea's petition has been ordered to be listed and heard on February 1
  • Idea's appeal comes within a month of a similar petition moved by Airtel
  • TRAI has sought Attorney General's opinion on Jio's promo offer
After Airtel, Idea Cellular has approached the telecom dispute tribunal TDSAT against regulator TRAI for allowing Mukesh Ambani-led Reliance Jio to continue free promotional offer beyond the stipulated 90 days.
Idea's petition in Telecom Disputes Settlement and Appellate Tribunal (TDSAT) asking for quashing of Reliance Jio's promotional offer has been ordered to be listed and heard along with Bharti Airtel petition on February 1, sources said.
Reliance Jio had first launched an inaugural free voice and data plan beginning September 4 and last month extended it till March 31, 2017, a move that was vehemently criticised by incumbent operators.
TRAI on October 20 said that since Jio's offer of free services was only valid till December 3, it is consistent with the direction for 90 days (the stipulated validity of promo offers).
"Today, Idea Counsel Soli Copper highlighted the October 20 order of TRAI and TRAI's inaction since December 3. TRAI will file a response on condonation of delay application, while Reliance Jio has been allowed to file impleadment application," sources pointed out.
When contacted, an Idea Cellular spokesperson declined to comment on the matter.
The appeal against Reliance Jio by Idea comes within a month of a similar petition moved by Bharti Airtel on December 23, which challenged TRAI's permission to Jio to continue promotional offer and even charged the regulator of being a "mute spectator" to the violations.
In its 25-page petition before the TDSAT, Airtel had asked the quasi-judicial body to direct TRAI to ensure that Reliance Jio does not provide its free voice and data plan beyond December 3.
Hearing Airtel's petition earlier this month, TDSAT had asked sector regulator TRAI to decide on Reliance Jio's free 4G service within a "reasonable time".
The tribunal's observation came after TRAI sought some more time to formulate its views on Reliance Jio's free voice and data offer.
In fact, TRAI has now sought Attorney General's opinion on Reliance Jio's free voice and data offering till March, which rivals like Airtel and Idea have dubbed as being predatory.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Vodafone Red Postpaid Plans Now Offer Unlimited Calls With Up to 40GB of Data.

Image
Vodafone Red Postpaid plans offer unlimited local calls The Vodafone Red plans start at Rs. 499 There's also a Rs. 2,999 plan available in select circles Telecom operator  Vodafone  has officially launched its new postpaid Vodafone Red plans with unlimited calls and associated data benefits. With the unveiling, the company has detailed two new plans. Earlier in the month, the company  introduced Vodafone Red , with four new plans offering unlimited calls and more data in a bid to combat  Reliance Jio  competition. And now, new additional plans of higher denominations have been introduced into the mix. Vodafone Red now has new Rs. 1,699 and Rs. 1,999 postpaid plans. The Rs. 1,699 Red postpaid plan comes with unlimited calls on home network as well as on roaming (i.e. free outgoing calls on roaming). It also comes with 100 text messages, and 20GB of bundled 4G/ 3G data for 4G smartphone users (16GB for non-4G smartphones). The Rs. 1,999 postpaid offers all the same
Read more

LG Sends Out MWC 2017 Event Invites; LG G6 Launch Likely.

Image
The company will host an event on February 26 It is largely expected to launch the LG G6 The LG G6 is pegged to sport a 5.7-inch QHD+ display LG has announced its presence at  MWC 2017 , and has sent out invites for an event on February 26. The company's invite has a silhouette of a smartphone, hinting that the  LG G6  flagship will be unveiled at the tech conference. The invite is pretty minimal with the tagline 'See More. Play More' in the centre. This hints at a large display size with a high pixel density, and the LG G6 is expected to come with a 5.7-inch QHD+ display. The event will begin at 4.30pm IST (12.00pm CET), with LG taking centre-stage in Barcelona. The company has been  teasing quite a few features  of its upcoming flagship, and the LG G6 is expected to come with waterproofing abilities, a big screen, and a good grip design. As mentioned, the smartphone is expected to sport the company's brand  new 5.7-inch QHD+ (1440x2880 pixels) dis
Read more

Opera Mini for Android Update Brings Faster Access to Downloads, Facebook Notification Bar, and More.

Image
The new update is available via Play Store The update will now scan for downloadable content on sites like Facebook Facebook notification bar can now be added to the app drawer Opera Mini is a popular browser on mobile platforms for its data saving functionality and customisations. Opera has rolled out a new update for  Opera Mini  for Android that brings a few new features. The  update  extends the browser's compression technology allowing users to now save pages for offline use, compressing the page to as little as 10 percent of its original size. The compression works so that the essential content is saved minus the "unwanted frills", as the update describes it. A notable new feature, available you are in the Extreme data savings mode, automatically scans social media, MP3, and movie download sites for direct download links. The downloadable content will show up in a drop-down menu right at the top of your screen, making it easy for you to find you were
Read more