Airtel receives payment from Jio for PoIs

After testing, the PoIs will be opened for traffic

Amidst the ongoing bickering over points of interconnect (PoIs) between Reliance Jio and incumbent operators, Bharti Airtel said it had received payment from the Mukesh Ambani-owned firm for the additional PoIs on September 15 and 16 and after testing, these would be opened for traffic.

The Sunil Bharti Mittal-owned firm said though the interconnect agreement provided for a commissioning period of 90 days from the day Jio made the payment, it would work towards releasing the PoIs well ahead of the contractual obligation.

With the latest augmentation, the tally will go up to 2,000 PoIs, which will be sufficient to serve over 15 million customers, which is much more than Jio’s total subscriber base.

Airtel said it had been providing PoIs to Jio, well ahead of the commencement of its commercial operations. The company had released demand notes for additional PoIs on September 14 and received the payment on September 15 and 16, 2016.

 

According to the bilateral agreement, Airtel and Jio will now have to jointly undertake the physical connection and testing of the PoIs. Consequent to successful testing of the PoIs, these will be opened for traffic.

Apart from Airtel, Vodafone and Idea Cellular have also announced release of additional PoIs for Jio.