India witnesses telecom war yet again: Jio vs Airtel now

Newcomer Reliance Jio has asked telecom regulator TRAI to "impose highest penalty" on Airtel, accusing the latter of exaggerating the value of data in a promotional offer and giving misleading tariff ads.

In a letter to TRAI, Jio alleged Airtel of misrepresenting the benefits of free unlimited calls without indicating the applicability of Fair Usage Policy (FUP). It further said that the free calls under Airtel's special tariff voucher 345 were not really unlimited as Airtel has implemented a FUP of 300 minutes per day or 1,200 minutes per week, post which all calls are chargeable. Reliance adds that 'Free data for 12 months, worth Rs 9,000' on the prepaid STV is available only on paying Rs 345 and therefore, could not be termed free. Further, it said that post expiry of the data benefits in the pack, the subscriber is charged at pay-as-you-go rates, therefore, the free data claims are grossly misleading.

"Therefore, these prepaid packs do not provide unlimited free calling to customers. This fact is not discernable from the advertisements of Airtel and neither does Airtel specify in the advertisements that such limitations apply or are conceived as part of the terms and conditions," Jio claimed. It also added that FUP related information is provided only by call centre executives of Airtel and that too when the issue is specifically highlighted to them. Reliance Jio said that this was violative and inconsistent with TRAI's instructions dated September 10, 2010.

Jio has also accused Airtel of arbitrary discrimination between subscribers of same class, saying that offer of free data for twelve months can be availed only by subscribers with new 4G handsets, that is 4G handsets that have previously not been used on Airtel's network. This "arbitrary classification" by Airtel is a gross violation of the Telecom Tariff order 1999 Section IV (Transparency and Consumer Protection), Jio concluded.