The telecom war between Reliance Jio Infocomm (Jio) and other players, especially current numero uno Bharti Airtel, is playing out in public, with both sides complaining on points of interconnection (PoIs).

And to discuss all these issues, Airtel’s Chairman Sunil Bharti Mittal even knocked on the doors of the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI). On Wednesday, Mittal met TRAI Chairman RS Sharma to explain his company’s position.

“PoIs have already been issued and more points of inter-connect are being provided... 2,100 POIs have already been given and a demand note for another 1,000 POIs went out yesterday (Tuesday). So, the process is going on,” Mittal said after the 20-minute meeting with Sharma.

He said the POIs, which are being given or have already been given, are sufficient to service 25-32 million customers. Mittal, however, declined to comment on the details of the meeting with Sharma.

Asked when he expects the inter-connect issue to be sorted out, Mittal said: “Give it a few days ... there are testing processes, demand notes are sent, payments are made... things are going on. The POIs are being opened very fast. We have to also see the quality for our own costumers.”

On escalation of the war of words in the telecom sector, Mittal felt that it has been de-escalated as “everyone is talking to everyone”.

“As far as Mukesh (Ambani) and I are concerned, we meet very regularly,” he added. Asked about charges by Jio about Airtel and other operators refusing mobile number portability, he said the portability issue “pertains to only 60-70 cases. I don’t know what is causing the delay or the reason…60-70 applications pertaining to portability will be resolved”.

The spectrum auction is nearing and the 700MHz band has been priced the most per MHz. Asked if his company would bid for it, Mittal said the 700 MHz band was ‘very expensive’, but declined to comment on whether Bharti Airtel would participate in the auction.

Related Topics
comment COMMENT NOW