Yesterday, Mukesh Ambani-owned Reliance Jio had accused the industry body, which represents existing operators, of trying to sabotage its entry and malign its name. It has also urged the telecom ministry to cut off connections provided by Reliance Jio to 1.5 million users as the company has allegedly bypassed regulations by offering full-fledged services under the guise of test connections. We will highlight the issue that we see Trai's opinion tilting the playing field," COAI director-general Rajan S. Mathews said. Such a move, in our view, will impact Bharti/Idea as they are net interconnect gainers and positively benefit smaller telcos and new entrant Jio (net payers)." Revenues of the government, too, will be hit by Rs 3,000 crore if the interconnect charges are scrapped.

Source: The Telegraph August 11, 2016 19:26 UTC