Jio accuses telecom operators of providing less interconnected points

Jio has accused incumbent operators of providing less than required points of interconnections (PoIs) needed for its users to complete calls to rivals' network, while operators charged the newcomer of unleashing a "tsunami" of free traffic on their networks.

Interconnection enables mobile users to make calls to customers of other telecom networks and is, therefore, crucial for the smooth functioning of mobile services. 

In a statement issued on September 23, Jio had alleged that over 12 crore calls failed daily between Jio and the networks of Airtel, Vodafone and Idea. As per quality of service rules, not more than five calls in 1,000 should fail due to network congestion.

Late last month, as the row between incumbents and newcomer Reliance Jio escalated, Trai intervened and issued show cause notices to operators for call drops far exceeding the norm. It had given the incumbent operators ten days to explain why action should not be initiated against them for violation of service quality norms.

In their reply to TRAI, Idea said that the show cause notice is "defective, invalid and premediated" and the reason for poor service quality is solely because of Reliance Jio. Airtel said that the notice was premature and it is making effort to augment interconnection.
Vodafone cited inconsistent calculation made by Jio and delay on its part among reason for the row.
The regulator has given a deadline of October 17, 2016, to mobile operators to resolve the matter so that customers do not experience poor quality of service.
Trai has observed a high level of congestion in telecom networks leading to call failure on Reliance Jio's network.