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Andrew Bonwick
Vice President of Product Development at Relm Insurance
Madhav Sheth
CEO of Ai+ Smartphone
Stephen Rose
CEO Render Networks
India’s top telecom operators have reportedly questioned the telecom regulator (TRAI) for delaying consultation on mobile network test rules. These telcos had last year alleged that Reliance Jio had bypassed regulations by offering full-fledged services under the guise of test services, which helped it gain quick subscribers in the country.
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The issue related to network testing rule was first brought to the regulator’s notice last year, which had then flagged it to the Department of Telecommunications (DoT).
Following the bitter war around this, the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India had issued a consultation paper on May 1 this year to refine rules on network testing.
Airtel, in its submission to the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India, said that the regulator has failed to act on a suomoto basis over the violation of these rules despite the fact that the industry players had been pleading and seeking intervention over this issue for months as new entrant sought large number of PoIs during the test phase itself.
The Sunil Mittal-led telco said, that “there are no grey areas or ambiguities in the existing guidelines and the paper is no more relevant as the damage has already been done”, adding that rules clearly state that the enrollment of subscribers is not permitted before the commercial launch of services.
Airtel further added that the delay from TRAI allowed Jio to amass subscribers in the guise of test users and offer all its services for free.
