Jio slams COAI for its threatening tone

New Delhi: Billionaire Mukesh Ambani's Reliance Jio on Wednesday slammed telecom industry body Cellular Operators' Association of India (COAI) for its "threatening and blackmailing" tone in its communication to the government on non-existent crisis in the sector following the Supreme Court ruling on payment of statutory dues.

Reacting to the charges levelled by Jio, COAI Director General Rajan Mathews said: "This is a private matter between the members of the association and will be addressed in due course within the ambit of Governance structure of COAI."

Jio has taken strong exception to the COAI dispatching a late-night communication to the government without waiting for its comments. In a strongly worded letter to Mathews, Jio said that an unlikely event of failure of two operators will not have any impact on competition and the Centre's Digital India agenda.

Jio accused COAI of "serious breach of trust" and having a "prejudiced mindset completely laced with one-sided thought process". "It seems there were extraneous consideration to send this letter, only on behest of other two members.

By such unwarranted behaviour COAI has just proved that they are not an industry organisation but just a mouthpiece of two service providers," Jio said in its letter on Wednesday.

Jio, the newest and the most aggressive player in the telecom clan, said that it disagrees with the intent, tone and contents of COAI's letter, which it argued does not represent industry views by any stretch of imagination.

COAI, in its letter to the government, said that in the absence of immediate relief by the Centre, two of the three private mobile operators -- Airtel and Vodafone Idea which provide services to 63 per cent of the current subscriber base -- will face "unprecedented crisis".

Attacking COAI's position, Jio said: "We are taking a strong umbrage at COAI exploiting the legitimate pay out obligations to create an alarmist propaganda for the doom of the telecom sector in the country."

Jio said it disagrees with the "threatening and blackmailing tone" of COAI and accused the older operators of not investing sufficiently in the sector and "shedding crocodile tears" by claiming financial stress.

It also said the operators have not shown any inclination to modernise networks, while Jio promoters have made an equity investment of Rs 1.75 lakh crore.