Reliance Jio vs Airtel: Telecom operators at loggerheads over phone service in Jammu & Kashmir

Telecom operators Reliance Jio and Bharti Airtel are at loggerheads once again over allegation that the latter is providing incoming call facility to its subscribers in Jammu & Kashmir despite suspension order from the government.

Reliance Jio had earlier run into problems with major telecom operators like Bharti Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular over the refusal to give sufficient points of interconnection (PoIs) to the new entrant. The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) intervened and directed all the telecom operators to provide sufficient PoIs.

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Jio has submitted a compliance letter before the Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, alleging that its rival Bharti Airtel has violated the government order issued by the police by allowing incoming calls for its prepaid subscribers, according to Press Trust of India (PTI). The company has asked the authorities to take strict action against Airtel for not obeying the government's ban order.

Bharti Airtel has denied the allegations and instead filed a counter complaint before the Department of Telecom (DoT), claiming that Jio has bypassed the government order by disguising prepaid connections as postpaid, and demanded a stringent action against it.

"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 told PTI.

However, Reliance Jio has rubbished the allegation, saying that "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."

"It is worthwhile to also mention here that RJIL had escalated the issue of Airtel allowing incoming calls for their prepaid subscribers in the Kashmir valley despite written order on record from the Government of Jammu & Kashmir earlier this month to stop all prepaid services in the Kashmir Valley. his was a clear violation of Government Order completely disregarding security concerns of the Government," Jio spokesperson told the new agency.