Reliance Jio Infocomm on Monday, 14 December, has written to Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) and has sought action against rivals Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel, amid farmers’ protests against the three contentious farm laws.
Jio, in its complaint, stated that Vodafone and Airtel are spreading “false” rumours that the Mukesh Ambani-led company will benefit from the recent farm bills.
“Unethical and anti-competitive mobile number portability (MNP) campaigns” are being run by Vodafone Idea and Bharti Airtel amid the protests, the company alleged, reported NDTV.
Many Jio users have recently requested for porting their numbers out of Jio, according to the company. The customers haven’t listed any complaints or other issues related to its services, The News Minute reported.
Airtel and Vodafone are directly/indirectly involved in supporting and furthering the insinuations and “false and frivolous rumours” of Reliance being an undue beneficiary of the farm laws, the company alleged.
Airtel and Vodafone are pursuing a vicious campaign against Reliance through their retailers, employees and agents, they added.
“They are inciting the public by making preposterous claims that migrating Jio mobile numbers to their networks would be an act of support to farmers” protests,” the letter issued on 10 December stated.
In its statement, Bharti Airtel denied the allegations. It said: “Airtel has operated in the telecom industry for 25 years. During this period, we have competed hard in the market place and striven to serve our customers with excellence. At the same time, we take great pride in treating our competitors and partners with respect.”
“Vodafone believes in doing business with ethics. These are baseless allegations against us to malign our reputation. We strongly refute such irresponsible comments on us,” Vodafone responded, rubbishing the claims.