Reliance Jio has reportedly requested for additional time to reply to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s query on why the recent extension of the 4G telco’s free voice and data plan should not be seen as violation of existing norms. The existing norms specified by the telecom regulator require promotional offers to be limited to 90 days.
Reliance Jio, according to various media reports, has now asked for additional time till December 29 to send in its responses. According to various media reports, the telecom regulator, in its December 20 letter to the telco, had also asked why the offer of free data under the promotional scheme should not be treated as predatory. The telco has been given five days to clarify on the issues raised by the regulator.
Reliance Jio had a consumer base of 63 million as on December 18, Trai noted in its letter, implying that the telco will emerge as a significant market player in the broadband space shortly, may be by December-end. Trai is currently analyzing Jio’s average subscriber additions per day and free data being offered, and it has asked Jio to give an estimated month-wise projection of the number of subscribers that are expected to be added till March 31, 2017.
Last week, Trai - which is in the process of looking at Jio's new promotional offer - had said that preliminary examination of the new offer filed with it "prima facie" revealed that except for minor changes in the quantum of data in the new offer, it seemed to be an extension of the old promotional offer beyond 90 days.
Earlier this month, Jio had reportedly told the regulator that the latest Happy New Year offer is different from the Jio Welcome Offer as in the initial offer it had provided 4 GB of free data per day, while the new plan offers just 1GB data usage, and comes with an option for customers to recharge connection for faster speeds beyond the limit.
