The Jio Interconnectivity Scramble!

Controversies are not new to Reliance Jio and now another issue has come up as its users are facing call drops due to lack of Points of Interconnection (POI's). Priyanka Dua tries to explain the whole issue and the roles of the different players involved.

- Priyanka Dua

Just when you thought that Reliance Jio had spent enough time in the limelight, the issue of interconnectivity popped up. Interconnection is the linking of telecommunications networks so that customers of one network can communicate with customers of another network. To make a call from one network to another, an interconnect fee is to be paid to the incoming network operator. This is a way of paying for the resources used of the operator of the terminating network while the originating operator network makes revenues from the call charges.

Growing Spat

It all started when Reliance Jio wrote to Telecom regulatory Authority of India (TRAI), Chairman RS Sharma that the industry body Cellular operators Association of India (COAI) had rejected its request to provide additional points of interconnects (POI's). COAI responded that incumbent’s operators are providing sufficient points to supports 15- 20 million users and Reliance Jio has only 2- 3 million users.

“The members of COAI would like to clarify that they have already provided Reliance Jio with enough interconnect capacity to meet the usual demand of 15 to 20 million customers. We understand Reliance Jio presently has approximately 2 to 3 million customers using their network‎. Hence, we are unable to substantiate Reliance Jio’s claim for additional capacity,” Rajan S. Mathews, Director General, COAI