Vodafone moves to Delhi High Court against Trai for permitting Jio’s free offer

Vodafone on Monday approached the Delhi High Court against the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India for allegedly failing to stop violation of tariff orders and regulations by Reliance Jio.

• Make Telecom Talk My Trusted Source
• 
• 

The country’s second largest telecom operator has also claimed that the Mukesh Ambani-led telecom operator, in the garb of preview offer, garnered millions of subscribers by offering them free services, due to the regulator’s “arbitrary and irregular action/inaction.”

The telecom operator said that the regulator, in fact, failed to execute the telecom department’s (DoT) circulars by permitting Reliance Jio to continue with its free offers. According to the DoT’s circulars, all tariffs in the country must be compliant of inter-connection usage charges (IUC), non-discriminatory and non-predatory.

Vodafone India, in its petition, said that the free or zero tariff plan or promotional offer of said operator (Reliance Jio) with no charges at all for services, “is ipso facto non-compliant with the ‘floor’ as stipulated by TRAI in its own tariff orders, and it is IUC non-compliant, predatory and discriminatory and thus violates the TRAIs tariff orders and regulations.

Also read: Reliance Jio Approaches TRAI to Impose Penalty on Airtel for ‘Misleading’ Free Services Ads: Report

The telecom operator has also added that the promotional offer was and continues to be in blatant violation of cardinal regulatory principles as IUC charges being the floor for the retail tariffs, according to media reports.

Reliance Jio has now been made a party on the oral plea of Vodafone, PTI reported.