COAI writes to govt, says absence of relief may unleash unprecedented crisis, sector monopoly

Telecom body COAI has warned that absence of an immediate relief by the government to the sector could unleash "unprecedented crisis" in the industry that may "potentially be catastrophic" for the nation, curtailing investments, shattering investor confidence and leading to job losses.

The industry association has also rued that the adverse consequence of this could also be India ending up with a "possible monopoly in the telecom sector".

In a letter to the Telecom Minister Ravi Shankar Prasad, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said, "We believe that in the absence of an immediate grant of relief by the government - two of the three private mobile operators viz Airtel and Vodafone Idea, which provide services to about 63 per cent of the current subscriber base, will face an unprecedented crisis".

A mail sent to Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) for comments on the contents of the letter remained unanswered.

The letter has not gone down well with Jio, also a COAI member, which has accused the association of a "serious breach of trust" and having a "prejudiced mindset completely laced with one-sided thought process".

"It seems there were extraneous consideration to sent this letter, only on behest of other two members. By such unwarranted behaviour, COAI has just proved that they are not an industry organisation but just a mouthpiece of two service providers," Jio said in its letter on Wednesday.

Jio, the newest and the most aggressive player in the telecom clan, has said that it disagrees with intent, tone and contents of COAI's letter to the government, which, it argued, does not represent industry views by any stretch of imagination.

Reacting to charges levelled by Jio, Mathews in a separate statement issued on Wednesday evening said: "This is a private matter between the members of the association and will be addressed in due course within the ambit of governance structure of COAI."