Reliance Jio Alleges Airtel’s Pre-paid Works in Valley Despite Ban

New Delhi—Reliance Jio has alleged that Bharti Airtel is offering incoming calls on prepaid connections in Jammu and Kashmir despite government’s order to suspend the services, a charge denied by the incumbent operator.

Bharti Airtel, in turn, filed a counter complaint against Reliance Jio before the Department of Telecom alleging that the new entrant has continued mobile services by disguising prepaid connections as postpaid ones.

According to sources, in its compliance letter submitted before Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, on May 29, Jio alleged that Airtel has allowed incoming calls for prepaid subscriber in clear violation of the government order issued by IGP Kashmir.

The company has demanded “stringent action” against Airtel for non-compliance and violation of government order in the submission.

When contacted Airtel denied the charge and responded with counter-allegation that Jio has violated rules in the states by disguising pre-paid connections as post-paid ones to bypass the the order.

“These allegations are completely false, baseless and only go to highlight the growing frustration of Jio. We would urge Jio to gather all the facts and not resort to kite flying. Airtel has always been and will continue to be in full compliance of all regulations and guidelines,” Airtel spokesperson said.

Airtel said that Just because it has raised the issue of Jio’s blatant violation of regulations in Jammu & Kashmir by terming prepaid subscribers as postpaid, “thereby compromising national security, Jio is cooking up these false allegations to divert attention from the issue.”

The incumbent operator said it would once again urge the authorities to take the strictest possible action against Jio for their complete disregard of the regulations.

A day after Reliance Jio made submission, Bharti Airtel too filed the complaint against the new entrant before the DoT alleging that Jio “in gross violation of the license conditions, claims 95 per cent of its subscriber base (approximately 7 Lakh customers) as postpaid, even though such subscribers are actually prepaid subscribers”.

The incumbent operator alleged that Jio is “tactically and deliberately” tagging pre-paid customer as as postpaid “for its economic gain and competitive advantage, at the cost of national security and putting the lives of our security forces in danger.”

Jio denied the allegations calling them “completely baseless, malicious and tantamount to wilful disparagement against RJIL”, adding that the letter sent by Airtel to the DoT seems to be an act of retaliation, and nothing more.

“RJIL has always abided by the instructions issued by the local authorities… National security is of utmost importance to us, and we will always walk the extra mile to ensure that we are fully compliant and take requisite precautions in our services. We reject the instant complaint with the contempt it deserves,” Jio said. PTI

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