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Bharti Airtel has filed a counter complaint with the antitrust regulator against bitter rival Reliance Jio Infocomm, accusing it of “abusing dominant position” and of “predatory pricing” with intention to kill competition.
Jio rejected Airtel ’s contention, saying that the market leader is trying to divert attention from its own violations of rules by not providing adequate points of interconnection to the new entrant and from the regulator’s resultant action against the telco of suggesting levying a hefty fine.
"All tariff plans of Jio have been found to be non-predatory by the regulator, so the question of our offerings being predatory does not arise," Jio said in a statement.
In its complaint to the Competition Commission of India ( CCI), reviewed by ET, Airtel said Jio is a dominant player in telecom space as “it is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, which is the largest enterprise in India in terms of size, revenues, assets and value.”
It noted that Jio has made investments of over Rs1.60 lakh crore in telecom and spent a staggering Rs47,000 crore towards spectrum alone. Airtel said Jio has abused its dominant position by indulging in predatory pricing by providing free service since the launch of its beta testing in December 2015.
“During the test phase itself, it added approximately 5 million users and pursuant to its launch date on September 5, till December 31, it has grossed 72.5 million customers,” Airtel said.
“The free service provided by Jio is predatory in nature, which, in accordance with Section 4 of the Competition Act, ex-facie constitutes abuse of dominant position,” it added.
Airtel has argued that no other telco in India or overseas is offering services free of cost or any free unlimited voice calling. “The same is predatory” and the objective of predatory pricing by Jio “is to eliminate competition”. It added that Jio plans to create a monopoly for itself. “It is a strategic business tactic adopted to enhance market power with the objective of eliminating competition, in which it has succeeded to a large extent during the quarter October to December 2016.”
“Once Jio obtains higher market share , it would likely increase costs or even charge for voice calls since competition will be limited and the customer will be left with lesser number of service providers to choose from,” Airtel said. The complaint is the latest in the corporate battle between incumbent telecom operators and Reliance Jio.
Jio on its part said Airtel is acting against consumer interest by strongly opposing the ‘free voice’ benefit that Jio has been able to provide to customers due to its superior technology.
"India’s telecom sector has tended to progress due to disruptive innovation brought in by a new comer, but unfortunately, the incumbents led by Airtel have always tried to block such initiatives," the new telco added.
Reliance Jio: Bharti Airtel files counter complaint with CCI against Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Telecom News, ET Telecom
Jio rejected Airtel ’s contention, saying that the market leader is trying to divert attention from its own violations of rules by not providing adequate points of interconnection to the new entrant and from the regulator’s resultant action against the telco of suggesting levying a hefty fine.
"All tariff plans of Jio have been found to be non-predatory by the regulator, so the question of our offerings being predatory does not arise," Jio said in a statement.
In its complaint to the Competition Commission of India ( CCI), reviewed by ET, Airtel said Jio is a dominant player in telecom space as “it is a subsidiary of Reliance Industries Ltd, which is the largest enterprise in India in terms of size, revenues, assets and value.”
It noted that Jio has made investments of over Rs1.60 lakh crore in telecom and spent a staggering Rs47,000 crore towards spectrum alone. Airtel said Jio has abused its dominant position by indulging in predatory pricing by providing free service since the launch of its beta testing in December 2015.
“During the test phase itself, it added approximately 5 million users and pursuant to its launch date on September 5, till December 31, it has grossed 72.5 million customers,” Airtel said.
“The free service provided by Jio is predatory in nature, which, in accordance with Section 4 of the Competition Act, ex-facie constitutes abuse of dominant position,” it added.
Airtel has argued that no other telco in India or overseas is offering services free of cost or any free unlimited voice calling. “The same is predatory” and the objective of predatory pricing by Jio “is to eliminate competition”. It added that Jio plans to create a monopoly for itself. “It is a strategic business tactic adopted to enhance market power with the objective of eliminating competition, in which it has succeeded to a large extent during the quarter October to December 2016.”
“Once Jio obtains higher market share , it would likely increase costs or even charge for voice calls since competition will be limited and the customer will be left with lesser number of service providers to choose from,” Airtel said. The complaint is the latest in the corporate battle between incumbent telecom operators and Reliance Jio.
Jio on its part said Airtel is acting against consumer interest by strongly opposing the ‘free voice’ benefit that Jio has been able to provide to customers due to its superior technology.
"India’s telecom sector has tended to progress due to disruptive innovation brought in by a new comer, but unfortunately, the incumbents led by Airtel have always tried to block such initiatives," the new telco added.
Reliance Jio: Bharti Airtel files counter complaint with CCI against Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio, Telecom News, ET Telecom
