“There is no question of apologising to Jio as there is no worthy reason to do so, as the COAI’s differences are with Trai’s order, not anything with a specific operator,” COAI director general Rajan Mathews told ET in Barcelona ahead of the Mobile World Congress.
Jio, on Friday, issued a defamation notice to COAI and its director general Rajan Mathews, demanding a public apology within 48 hours for saying that the telecom regulator favoured Jio through its regulations at the cost of India's older operators such as Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea.
“We are still examining Jio’s letter and are in discussions with our legal counsel and our members to take a call on whether a response is warranted,” said Mathews. In its notice, Jio had said it is within its rights to take COAI and the three top incumbents to court seeking damages. COAI had on Saturday issued a statement that its differences are with the sector regulator’s recent orders and there was no intention to aggrieve any particular operator.
“We believe the industry is going through a tough time, and it important to raise issues and point our serious reservations about the Trai order in the interest of the industry,” said the director general.
Even in its statement COAI had said that it had raised concerns keeping growth and development of industry in mind. Earlier this week, the industry body had accused the telecom regulator of issuing a series of regulations over the past 12-18 months, including the latest order on predatory pricing, that allegedly favour the new operator, which started services in September 2016.
It added that Jio did not subscribe to its views. In its notice, the Mukesh Ambani-owned telco, called COAI a ‘mouthpiece’ of dominant incumbents and accused it of making “reckless, wilful and flagrant act of making slanderous and libellous accusations” against Jio. COAI in its statement had dismissed allegations that its comments did not represent everyone.
(The reporter is in Barcelona to cover the Mobile World Congress at the invitation of Huawei)
