COAI hits back at Ambani's barb on its work ethos

Cellular operators' body is 'fully democratic', clarifies Director-General Rajan Mathews

The war of words between Reliance Jio (RJio) and the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) shows no signs of ebbing. Reacting to Reliance Chairman Mukesh Ambani’s (pictured) comments on the lack of democracy in the functioning of the COAI, Rajan S Mathews, director-general of the industry body, hit back saying: “The comments made with reference to the functioning of COAI are absolutely incorrect and misleading. COAI is a fully democratic association and takes into account the views of all its member operators. On all policy matters, the views of COAI are fully endorsed by all or majority of its member operators.”
 

Mathews referred to the issue of interconnect user charge (IUC), which is the bone of contention between Jio and the rest of the incumbents. Mathews said the views expressed by the association on the matter are “of all members”, except RJio, which is the only member opposing it. 
 

The new entrant has come out openly against IUC regime, under which an operator pays other operators 14 paise per minute for voice calls terminating on their networks. Given that Jio is a new entrant, it will see more traffic terminating on the networks of others and will have to pay that amount to other operators. Moreover, since Jio has made voice calling free, it would benefit if it does not have to incur the upfront cost of 14 paise per minute. 
 

Mathews also contested Ambani’s allegation that the chief executive officer of the association was an employee of the top two or three operators, in essence. It is completely incorrect to say that, said the statement released by COAI’s Rajan Mathews. 
 

Mathews also said raising questions on the credibility and integrity of the views of the member operators is against the spirit of conduct of members of the association. “We would expect the member partners to take utmost care, while talking about the functioning of the association,” he said.

Don’t limit meeting on PoI to 3 telcos: COAI tells Trai

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (Trai) has called the chief executive officers of the top three telecom operators - Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular - on Friday to discuss the issue of points of interconnect with Jio. The lobby group for GSM operators, the Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI), has written to the telecom regulator Trai, requesting it to not limit the meeting to just the top three operators, given it is an industry issue. All members of COAI have come together against Jio, as far as releasing interconnect points are concerned. 
 

So far, Jio has been saying the big three are abusing their dominant position. But it appears the rest of the industry has come together to battle Jio. In its letter to Trai, COAI has stated: “We believe the issue pertains to all members of COAI and not limited to the three operators. We, therefore, request Trai to invite all members of COAI for this meeting.”