R S Sharma, chairman of the TRAI (Telecom Regulatory Authority of India) has called the charges against the organisation baseless. Sharma expressed shock at the letter written by the COAI (Cellular Operators Association of India) and said that the organisation works towards the growth of the industry and has always taken care of consumer protection and fair play. He said that further actions will be taken by the TRAI, if necessary. The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) had on Monday written to the Department of Telecom (DoT) to immediately ask Reliance Jio Infocomm Ltd (RJIL) to stop all connections provided to 1.5 million users because it had allegedly bypassed regulations by offering full-fledged services under the guise of test connections.
COAI had earlier questioned the urgency shown by the TRAI in the process of initiation process of the interconnect review. The COAI has accused the TRAi of favouring new entrants. The COAI director Rajan Mathews on Tuesday said that there will be a meeting with the Telecom Minister and the Telecom Secretary to discuss the matter in a transparent manner.
TRAI had begun the review of interconnection charges last week. The interconnection charges are paid by one telecom operator to another for connecting phone calls. TRAi was reviewing these charges as 4G and Internet calls change the way, communicators communicate. COAI had accused the TRAI of attempting to introduce the “Bill and Keep” method, under which the new operators would not have to pass on payment to the existing operators, while the latter would have to incur the same costs.
