In a setback to incumbent telecom operators, sector regulator TRAI on Friday suggested imposing Rs. 3,050 crores penalty on Bharti Airtel, Vodafone, and Idea for allegedly denying interconnectivity to newcomer Reliance Jio. TRAI, in its recommendation to the Department of Telecom, said it has found the trio to be non-compliant with licence conditions and service quality norms given the high rate of call failures and congestion at interconnect points for Reliance Jio.

It also noted that denial of interconnection by these operators to Reliance Jio "appears to be with the ulterior motive to stifle competition and is anti-consumer".

As per TRAI's recommendation, the penalty for Airtel and Vodafone works out to about Rs. 1,050 crores each, while in case of Idea Cellular it comes to about Rs. 950 crores. The regulator stopped short of recommending cancellation of their telecom licences saying it may lead to "significant consumer inconvenience".


The recommendation came on complaint by Reliance Jio that over 75 percent of calls on its network are failing as incumbents were not giving sufficient points of interconnect that would help complete calls.


TRAI in a detailed letter to the DoT Secretary said the action of the three incumbent operators was "against public interest".

When contacted, an Airtel spokesperson said, "We are continuously augmenting the PoIs provided to Reliance Jio and pace of augmentation has been the fastest ever done by us. Further we are in full compliance of the requirements of grade of service set by TRAI."