Affordability OK, But Sustainability Matters, Points Out COAI on RJio  

New Delhi: The Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) on Thursday said Reliance Jio’s offer was a compelling proposition and good for consumers, but its tariffs can’t be termed as killer that will do away with competition.
The COAI, which is leading the front in a fight with Reliance Jio over inter-connect issues, said: “Competing operators are already matching the price points in most plans the new entrant announced today.”

Rajan S Mathews, Director General, Coai

Reliance Jio’s challenge will be to maintain quality of service on its network once the traffic volumes go up. Consumers will not pay low prices for low quality. Initial advantage will be for Reliance Industries, given the empty network. But, over time, we will have to see if that can be sustained

Rajan S Mathews, Director General, COAI, said: “Reliance Jio’s challenge will be to maintain quality of service on its network once the traffic volumes go up. Consumers will not pay low prices for low quality. Initial advantage will be for Reliance Industries, given the empty network. But, over time, we will have to see if that can be sustained.”

On aggressive pricing by Reliance Jio, Mathews said, “it is good for the customer vis a vis affordability. It ties in to the government’s policy on connectivity and affordability. But other than Rs 19/day tariff, most of the other price points in the mid to high range plans are already being matched by the incumbents in some form or fashion. These are not killer tariffs that will do away with competition.”

Mathews said that against the average revenue per user of Rs 180/month prevailing in the industry, Reliance Jio appears to be positioning itself for Rs 400-499. It will grow the market. incumbent operators will be able to get additional revenue.”
Mathews said the claim of free calls is not entirely correct as the tariffs bundle data and voice.

Reliance Jio has been engaged in a stand-off with the existing cellular operators on the points of inter-connect or ports required for connecting calls and SMS between two operators. Reliance has accused incumbent players of not releasing sufficient inter-connection ports during its test run of services while the existing operators (under the aegis of COAI) have dubbed its testing of network as an effort to bypass sectoral regulations.

Reliance Jio has been engaged in a stand-off with the existing cellular operators on the points of inter-connect or ports required for connecting calls and SMS between two operators.
Reliance has accused incumbent players of not releasing sufficient inter-connection ports during its test run of services while the existing operators (under the aegis of COAI) have dubbed its testing of network as an effort to bypass sectoral regulations.

On allegations that incumbent operators had not provided enough points of inter-connect during the test phase, Mathews said: “The operators had met their obligations on their understanding of the network load and provided capacities for up to 20 million users. If these services are commercial now, then Reliance Industries can make requests as per the rules, and incumbent operators will respond accordingly.”

Reliance Jio files tariffs with Trai

After shocking the other telecom operators, Reliance Jio has filed tariffs with the sectoral regulator Trai. The tariffs have been filed with TRAI. No approval is required. Trai will intervene in case there is a deviation from the existing guidelines,” said a source in the know.

Reliance Jio on Thursday announced free voice calls and free national roaming along with rock-bottom data prices on his new Reliance Jio network. Voice calling will be free on Jio phones for life and post December 31, 10 data plans will be offered starting at Rs 19 a day for occasional users, Rs 149 a month for low data users and Rs 4,999 a month for heavy data users. Telecom analysts have used terms like knockout punch and disruptive to describe the Reliance Jio’s aggressive tariff plans, while cellular operators’ association has dubbed it compelling proposition for consumers but not a killer for the industry.

Source: PTI