India: CCI was split on Jio interim order

In the decision reported last week of the Competition Commission of India (CCI) taking a majority view that there is cartelization by incumbents Vodafone, Airtel and Idea in the telecom sector, two of its members believe there is no such case.

The interim CCI order had directed a detailed probe in this regard by its director-general against the major incumbents for allegedly trying to block the entry of Reliance Jio into the segment.

However, the two members have said Reliance Jio is to blame, not the others. Economic Times has reviewed the order, and the two members have said Jio’s complaint is not justified. The reasoning is that Jio is still in its trial phase, not marketing the product commercially. and, as Jio’s users aren’t being charged for the period under review, they are not subscribers.

They have noted test cards “are to be issued to business associates, employees, relations, etc., only for the purpose of checking the quality of service. This does not seem to be the case with R-Jio. Thus, the alleged non-provisioning of demand of POIs (points of interconnections) by the telecom operators or reasonability of demand needs to be seen in this light.”

Full Content: Economic Times

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